Mr. Son: Many households have had their residential land allocated forest land overlapping with their existing land.

Land was converted from forest land to residential land.

Phuc Son is a commune with a large geographical area, a vast land area, and a fragmented terrain.Anh Son districtFrom National Highway 7A, the central section of the commune is about 9km to the villages of Bai Da and Bai Lim, and about 20km to Cao Veu village. Due to the large geographical area, land management in this region still faces many difficulties. In particular, when issuing new land use right certificates to people, the local authorities have found that many households have residential land areas that are covered by forestry land use right certificates (issued around 2012-2013).

A reporter from Nghe An Newspaper interviewed Mr. Dang Dinh Nien, residing in Kim Tien village (Phuc Son commune). Photo: TĐ

Mr. Dang Dinh Nien, residing in Kim Tien village (Phuc Son commune), stated: His family originally came from Hamlet 4, Phuc Son commune. In 1989, his family moved to Kim Tien village to develop new economic zones, and in 1991, the entire family relocated there. In 2013, a survey team measured the land, and subsequently, Mr. Nien's family was granted a land use right certificate for an area of ​​28,000 square meters, designated for forest production, without a single square meter of residential land. In reality, however, he and his wife have allocated approximately 5,000 square meters of land to their four children for long-term housing and residence. Currently, due to the lack of residential land, his family is facing significant difficulties in obtaining production loans.

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Phung, head of Kim Tien village, said: "Out of 180 households in the village, 26 currently have residential land encroaching on forest land. Of these, 5 households have had their land officially surveyed and mapped, while 21 households have not." Mr. Phung could not explain the reason for this discrepancy.

The land on which Mr. Dang Dinh Nien's family lives has been covered by a Certificate of Land Use Rights for forestry land. Photo: TĐ

It's not just Kim Tien village; currently in Phuc Son commune, in village 8, there are 39 households whose residential land overlaps with forest land but has not yet been surveyed. Similarly, 36 households in Veu 4 village have residential land overlapping with forest land; although the land has been surveyed, it has not yet been separated to issue land use right certificates.

No funding available for surveying.

According to compiled data from the People's Committee of Phuc Son commune, there are currently 73 households in the commune that have filed applications for land use right certificates for residential land. These households built their houses in 1989, but when surveying and issuing land use right certificates for forestry land, the residential land was not separated from the forestry land.

In addition, there are 60 households eligible for new land use right certificates that have not yet been surveyed. Of these, 21 households in Kim Tien village and 39 households in Hamlet 8 have built houses since 1989 without being surveyed on official cadastral maps, even though the land plots where their houses are built are shown on the 1997 forestry map 163.

A certificate of land use rights for forestry land issued to residents of Phuc Son commune is overlapping with residential land. Photo: Tien Dong

Mr. Nguyen Van Trang, Chairman of the People's Committee of Phuc Son commune, said: "Currently, the commune has reported this situation to higher authorities for consideration and handling. The People's Committee of the commune itself has also proposed that for households whose residential land overlaps with forest land but has been officially surveyed on cadastral maps, the area of ​​the house's premises should be surveyed to separate the residential land from the forest land. After that, a Certificate of Land Use Rights for residential land should be issued to the people, and the changes in the residential area on the forest land should be adjusted, or a new Certificate of Land Use Rights should be issued."

For areas of land where houses have been built encroaching on forest land but have not yet been officially surveyed and mapped, it is necessary to promptly conduct a survey and separate the residential land area to issue land use right certificates to the people and update the changes in the residential land area on the forest land.

For households using forest land that has not yet been surveyed and mapped, a survey and mapping process will be carried out to provide a basis for preparing dossiers to issue Certificates of Forest Land Use Rights to the people.

Nguyen Ngoc Phung, head of Kim Tien village (Phuc Son commune), cannot understand why forest land is being allocated as residential land in this way. Photo: Tien Dong

Mr. Trang also pointed out the current situation, stating that due to the manual measurement of forest land for many households in the past, there are errors. Currently, many families who wish to gift, transfer, or sell their land find that the actual measurements do not match the shape and area that were granted. In fact, these shortcomings have been raised by the local authorities to higher levels of government, but have not yet been addressed. Meanwhile, most cases of forest land overlapping with residential land are in remote villages and hamlets, such as Bai Da, Bai Lim, Veu 1, Veu 2, Veu 3, Veu 4, etc., where people's lives are still difficult and they lack the funds to conduct the measurements themselves. Therefore, the local authorities have also requested higher levels of government to pay attention to the surveying and processing of land use right certificates for residential land for the people according to regulations…

Mr. Bui Cong An, Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Anh Son District, said: The households in Phuc Son commune whose land was previously allocated as residential land (covering forest land) have never been granted Certificates of Land Use Rights for residential land. Prior to this, the area was not surveyed or mapped under Decree 299. The district has received a summary document and request from Phuc Son commune. However, to date, there is no funding available to survey and separate the residential land from the forest land, so the process has not been carried out...