Limited land use rights auction: Many problems remain!

(Baonghean) -The Provincial People's Committee's policy of limited land auctions is intended to give economically disadvantaged households in rural areas the opportunity to access and own residential land. However, many localities have yet to implement it, even though this policy was issued nearly 2 years ago.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tram's family, hamlet 12, Nam Linh commune (Nam Dan) currently has 3 generations living under one roof, including grandparents, 2 sons, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. Mr. Tram himself is a war invalid, his economic conditions are not good, so buying an additional piece of land through open auction to build a separate house for one of his sons to live separately is really difficult. "Although I am a war invalid, the children of war invalids are not entitled to the land allocation regime according to the valuation, so I hope the State will have a policy of auctioning land lower than the market price to create conditions for families like us to separate households to build houses for their children to live separately, less crowded and difficult" - Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tram suggested. Mr. Tram's opinion is also the opinion of many rural people who have suggested in many forums to contact voters of National Assembly deputies and Provincial People's Councils in recent years.

Based on the voters' proposals and recommendations, the Provincial People's Committee proposed the People's Council to consider and approve, and then the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 37/2011/QD-UBND, dated August 1, 2011, promulgating regulations on property auctions in Nghe An province, including regulations on the scope, subjects, conditions and price calculation methods in the auction of restricted land use rights in rural areas. However, up to this point, after nearly 2 years of implementation, in many localities, the province's policy of restricted land auctions has not yet come into life. "Up to now, the restricted land auction has only been implemented in 4 districts with 14 communes of Yen Thanh, Dien Chau, Hung Nguyen and Thanh Chuong. The total number of land lots put up for restricted land auctions is 187 lots, of which 92 lots were successfully auctioned" - Mr. Phung Khac Tan, Head of the Judicial Support Department, Department of Justice said.



Land officials of Nghi Duc commune (Vinh city) review planning and land use plans in the area.

We learned that the problem that prevented many localities from implementing limited land auctions was that the province had not yet approved the planning and land use plans for the period 2010 - 2015, taking into account the year 2020 for the districts, leading to the districts not yet approving the planning and land use plans for the communes, so there was no basis for limited auctions. A few localities that were able to organize limited auctions were due to the old land fund that had been previously approved by the competent authority.

In Nam Dan district (where there are the most petitions about the limited land auction that has not been implemented yet), for example, Nam Linh commune in 2012 developed a land use plan for the year to have a basis for limited auction but it was not approved by the district. Up to this point, the commune has conducted surveys and selected locations in 5 areas to put into limited auction, 1 area is implemented according to the pricing policy, waiting for the district's approval to put into auction.

In addition, another problem is that according to regulations, the starting price for auctioning land use rights in rural areas is determined to not be lower than the land price frame issued by the Provincial People's Committee that is still in effect at the time of auction, causing difficulties for people who need land for housing, reducing people's purchasing power. Because the subjects that are allowed to participate in auctioning land are households living in communes in rural areas with low income, poor households, near-poor households, policy families, and people with difficult conditions, spending 50 - 60 million VND to buy land is beyond their means.

In fact, in the two communes of Hung Tan and Hung Linh (Hung Nguyen), the starting price is high, so no one buys land under the limited auction. That is the reason why the demand for land to build houses and separate households for children is high, but the number of people who actually buy is very small. For example, out of 115 lots that Phu Quy Auction Joint Stock Company organized auctions in 10 communes in the three districts of Dien Chau, Yen Thanh and Hung Nguyen, only 54 lots were auctioned; the price increased by only 1% compared to the original starting price and decreased by only 5 to 20% compared to the free auction.

From the practical situation, in order for the province's policy of auctioning limited land use rights to come into life, contributing to the sustainable implementation of social security policies, it is necessary to adjust land prices reasonably; support loans or pay in installments for land to increase financial capacity for households buying land. On the part of the commune and district authorities, it is necessary to enhance responsibility in surveying, selecting locations, and approving land funds for limited auctions. At the same time, organize the review of documents for subjects eligible for limited land purchase to ensure fairness, accuracy, and correct subjects; invest in initial infrastructure that is eligible for auction.

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