Nghe An National Assembly Delegation discusses the draft Land Law (amended)

Overview of the discussion session at Group 16. Photo: Quang Phuc

QUANTIFICATION OF STANDARDS FOR ASSESSING THE STANDARD OF LIVING AT THE NEW RESIDENCE OF PEOPLE WHOSE LAND IS RECLAIMED

Regarding this extremely important draft law, at the discussion session, National Assembly Delegate Doan Nghe An had many comments on the draft content. Commenting on the draft Law, Mr. Do Van Chien - Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front analyzed that Resolution No. 18-NQ/TW on "Continuing to innovate and perfect institutions and policies, improving the effectiveness and efficiency of land management and use, creating momentum to turn our country into a developed country with high income", of the Central Executive Committee clearly states: "Continue to implement the mechanism of self-negotiation between people and enterprises in transferring land use rights to implement urban and commercial housing projects".

However, the draft Law still contains the content: "Urban projects in which the State recovers land". Therefore, the delegate suggested that the Drafting Committee should carefully consider whether this point is consistent with Resolution No. 18 or not? If it is found that the land recovery of urban projects carried out by the State is necessary, it must be reported to the Central Executive Committee of the Party.

Mr. Do Van Chien - Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front spoke at the discussion. Photo: Quang Vinh

Along with that, delegate Do Van Chien expressed concern when Resolution No. 18 agreed on the policy that in the case of compensation, support, and resettlement when land is recovered, people whose land is recovered must have a place to live, ensuring a life equal to or better than their previous place of residence. However, the draft Law's institutions have not yet quantified this; this leads to the people not being able to carry out supervision.

“We also objected and suggested that there should be a regulation on the minimum living standard in the new resettlement area. For example, you must have a house that achieves an average of how many meters per person.²"What level of stable income is needed for people to be able to do this?", Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front stated his opinion.

National Assembly Delegate Nghe An at the group discussion session on the morning of November 3. Photo: Quang Vinh

Mr. Hoang Minh Hieu - Standing Member of the National Assembly's Law Committee emphasized that Resolution No. 18 of the Central Committee has clearly stated that it is necessary to promote the commercialization of land use rights; in this draft Law, there are also many solutions to achieve this goal, such as promoting the issuance of land use right certificates.

“This issue is also specifically regulated in the 2013 Land Law,” said the delegate of Nghe An Delegation, but it has not been completed yet. This is one of the limitations for land to become a development resource.

Therefore, Mr. Hoang Minh Hieu suggested that in this draft Law, there should be specific solutions such as studying the collection of fees for granting land use right certificates appropriate to each region; at the same time, resources should be concentrated to complete the construction of a land database.

Also to bring land into the market more effectively, the delegate of Nghe An Delegation proposed that this time the amendment of the Land Law should reduce the forms of bringing land into the market (currently there are 3 forms: auction to allocate land for lease; bidding for projects using land; allocating land without collecting land use fees), so it should be mainly through auction. The drafting committee should also study to not divide the land use purposes too small, maybe only focus on strictly managing rice-growing land and forest land for other purposes, the rest should be left to create conditions for people to exploit the land more effectively.

National Assembly Delegates from Nghe An and Tay Ninh and Phu Yen provinces exchanged views on the sidelines of the group discussion session. Photo: Quang Vinh

National Assembly Deputies of Nghe An Delegation exchange on the sidelines of the group discussion session. Photo: Quang Vinh

Regarding the discussion content, Mr. Tran Nhat Minh - full-time National Assembly member of Nghe An Delegation said: According to the provisions of the 2013 Land Law, land used for economic zones belongs to the group of non-agricultural land. However, in the draft amendment of the Land Law, there are no provisions on land used for economic zones.

Meanwhile, there are currently about 18 economic zones operating very effectively across the country, as assessed by the report of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Recently, the Government issued Decree No. 35 dated May 28, 2022 regulating the management of industrial parks and economic zones, which clearly states policies on investment management, construction and planning of economic zones.

"I request the drafting agency to clearly explain the removal of regulations on land use policies for economic zones as stipulated in the 2013 Land Law," said Mr. Tran Nhat Minh, and requested the drafting agency to study and continue to maintain the land use regime for economic zones in this amendment to the Law.

SUPPLEMENTING AND CLARIFICING MANY CONTENTS IN THE DRAFT LAW

Based on the analysis and comparison of the promulgated Land Laws, as well as the provisions in the draft, delegate Vo Thi Minh Sinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Nghe An province, proposed that this amendment to the Law should provide a definition of "market land price".

Delegate Vo Thi Minh Sinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Chairwoman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Nghe An province spoke at the discussion. Photo: Quang Phuc

Accordingly, it is necessary to clarify: What is the connotation of the concept of "market land price"? What factors constitute "market land price"? Which entity confirms "market land price"? And this is also related to: Is the regulation of the 5-year and annual land price list, which is built and announced periodically every 5 years and every year, close to the market price at each time of the year?

The delegate of Nghe An Delegation also proposed to add the concept of “Land Use Rights” to the draft Law; at the same time, regarding the regulations on compulsory land recovery, it is necessary to stipulate a specific time (with a time limit) from the date of dismantling, the person with the property must receive it and move it elsewhere, the government is not responsible for preservation… to avoid creating additional tasks related to staffing and supervision costs.

Delegate Tran Duc Thuan - Standing Member of the National Assembly's Defense and Security Committee spoke at the discussion. Photo: Quang Vinh

Delegate Tran Duc Thuan - Standing Member of the National Assembly's Committee on National Defense and Security proposed that the draft Law should add a provision on land allocation for housing development for armed forces, thereby ensuring compliance with the provisions of the Housing Law. On the other hand, in addition to the subjects of officers and professional soldiers, the draft Law should add subjects of civil servants, workers and defense officials who are eligible for land allocation without auctioning land use rights.

Delegate Dang Xuan Phuong - Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education expressed concern that the definition of land price and land use right value in the draft Law does not fully reflect the laws of motion of economic relations on land, which in reality always involve the participation of businesses and individuals who have invested and contributed to increasing land value in the market economy.

The delegate of Nghe An Delegation also analyzed the shortcomings and differences in vision in land use planning and vision in actual land allocation decisions; thereby proposing that the determination of vision in land use planning needs to be raised at national, provincial and district levels.

Delegate Nguyen Van Chi - Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee spoke at the discussion. Photo: Quang Vinh

Delegate Nguyen Van Chi - Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee said that one of the key contents of this Law is the financial contents on land. However, in the draft Law, these issues have not yet been given a truly clear solution to deal with the limitations and shortcomings.

Therefore, according to the delegate, it is necessary to review all contents on exemption and reduction of land rent and land use fees such as: Exemption and reduction levels; time, scope, applicable subjects;... currently stipulated in Government decrees to stipulate them into articles and clauses in the Law to ensure clarity and authority of the National Assembly; at the same time, the important content is the methods of land valuation which also need to be clearly stipulated in the revised Land Law.

Delegate Thai Thi An Chung - Member of the Provincial Party Executive Committee, Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An spoke at the discussion. Photo: Quang Vinh

Delegate Thai Thi An Chung - Member of the Provincial Party Executive Committee, Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An assessed that although the draft Land Law (amended) is very comprehensive, it also has very complicated contents, so more than 50 articles are assigned to the Government to regulate.

However, according to delegates, in reality, in the past time when implementing the 2013 Land Law, the difficulties and obstacles mostly still came from the Government's decrees and circulars of ministries, including the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

Based on that analysis, Ms. Thai Thi An Chung suggested that it is possible to study and develop a land law to incorporate the regulations currently contained in decrees and circulars into this law, thereby making it easier to apply in practice, ensuring consistency./.