On August 18, Deputy Minister of Justice Nguyen Thanh Tu chaired a meeting of the Appraisal Council on the Draft Law on Amendments and Supplements to Certain Articles of the Land Law (the draft law). Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Le Minh Ngan also attended the meeting.

Presenting the draft submission of the Draft Law at the meeting, Ms. Doan Thi Thanh My, Deputy Director General of the Department of Land Management under the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, stated that the promulgation of the law aims to fully and promptly institutionalize the viewpoints and policies of the Party and the State on land policy; to promptly remove “bottlenecks” and address new issues arising from practice; and to contribute to the achievement of socio-economic development goals.

The promulgation of the law also helps to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of land management and use, creating momentum for the country to become a developed nation with a high income, in line with new management requirements.

Resolving obstacles and difficulties for thousands of projects with incomplete compensation.

The Draft Law adds three cases in which the State shall recover land for socio-economic development in the national and public interest to Article 79.

Notably, in cases where land is used for the implementation of socio-economic development projects through agreements on the transfer of land use rights, if upon the expiration of the prescribed time limit for completing such agreements, or the extended time limit if an extension is granted, agreements have been reached on more than 75% of the land area and with more than 75% of land users, the State shall recover the remaining land area in order to allocate or lease it to the investor.

According to Mr. Le Hoang Chau, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association, the above provision will help resolve obstacles and difficulties for thousands of projects with “unfinished, patchy” compensation that have persisted for many years.

Also according to Mr. Le Hoang Chau, in many cases investors have reached agreements on more than 75% (even more than 95%) of the land area or with more than 75% of land users, but have been unable to reach agreements to clear the remaining land area. As a result, investors cannot implement the projects and their capital is immobilized; land is wasted and cannot be put into use.

The Draft Law also adds cases in which the State shall recover land for the implementation of urgent public investment projects serving political and foreign affairs tasks; projects in free trade zones and international financial centers; logistics projects; mixed-use projects for residential, urban, tourism, commercial services, cultural, and sports purposes and other purposes; cultural industry projects; and other socio-economic development projects as decided by the provincial People’s Council in accordance with local conditions.

Stating that this is one of the amendments highly appreciated by enterprises, the representative of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) proposed reconsideration of the case of “other socio-economic development projects as decided by the provincial People’s Council in accordance with local conditions.”

Because, according to this representative, under the Constitution, the State shall recover land being used by organizations and individuals only in cases of real necessity as prescribed by law. The VCCI representative also proposed clarifying whether the land price applied in such cases should follow the land price table or be based on agreements with enterprises, in order to avoid potential future disputes.

Concluding the meeting, Deputy Minister of Justice Nguyen Thanh Tu, Chairman of the Appraisal Council, affirmed the need to continue reviewing and supplementing regulations to ensure consistency with the guidelines and policies of the Party; to make efforts to “sweep away” all existing difficulties and inadequacies of current regulations as well as urgent issues for socio-economic development to be incorporated into the Draft Law; and at the same time to ensure that no new obstacles or difficulties arise.

Source: vietnamnet.vn