Delays in issuing land use right certificates.

(Baonghean)For many years, Vinh City has made efforts to issue land use right certificates to its citizens, but this area still leaves behind negative public opinion. Citizens' applications are repeatedly rejected and returned without clear reasons…

In the first seven months of 2012, Vinh City issued and renewed 1,752 land use right certificates to its residents. However, the city's People's Committee assessed that 19 wards and communes still have slow progress in issuing and renewing land use right certificates, including: Hong Son, Nghi Kim, Hung Chinh, Truong Thi, Le Mao, Quan Bau, Hung Dung, Hung Hoa, Hung Dong, Doi Cung, Cua Nam, Trung Do, Le Loi, Hung Phuc, Quang Trung, Nghi Phu, Hung Loc, Nghi Duc, and Nghi An.

Mr. Tran Vo Thuy, residing in Block 1, Vinh Tan Ward, stated that it took him a year and a half to complete the land title application process. Mr. Dang Van B, from Hamlet 15, Nghi Phu, applied for a land title, but after a lengthy process, the commune recommended issuing the title, only for the city to reject it, citing the land's location within a planned development area. Mr. B explained that he had purchased the land many years prior to the city's road planning, and that the planned road project had been stalled for four years. However, despite having the same land origin as Mr. B, his neighbor received a land title.



State management of urban land still has many shortcomings.

Residents of some newly merged suburban communes are frustrated by the slow process of issuing and renewing land ownership certificates. This is due to a lack of close coordination in reviewing land records between Nghi Loc District and Vinh City. People are living on land designated for one area but receiving certificates for a different area. While many communes submit numerous applications to the city, only a small number have actually received land ownership certificates.

Investigations in Nghi Phu district revealed that in the first six months of the year, Nghi Phu submitted 74 applications for land titles to the city, but only 16 have been issued. Many plots of land remain unissued, due to reasons attributable to both the people and the government. Mr. Nguyen Van Toan, Vice Chairman of the Nghi Phu Commune People's Committee, and the commune's land administration officials stated that the delay in issuing land titles is due to the fact that people do not retain records of land allocation documents from previous periods, especially those allocated by cooperatives. Some households are unable to afford the fees required for land titles. The repeated rejection of applications is due to the fact that a single plot of land was surveyed in three different periods (1985, 1993, and 2011). These three maps may sometimes be inconsistent. Currently, the commune uses the 2011 map but still has to refer to the other two. Regarding land exemptions for war veterans, people have to travel back and forth multiple times, from the commune to the city, then to the province, and back to the city again. We would have to check all 25 wards and communes to see if that household had already received any exemptions or reductions.

However, according to Vinh City, the main reason for returning land registration documents to citizens is primarily due to incomplete, unclear, and improperly processed verification by communes and wards (!), with the intention of forwarding the documents to the city for verification and then completing them later. Some communes and wards intentionally falsify the origin of land use, such as Hung Chinh, Hung Hoa, and Hung Binh… Some communes and wards evade and shirk responsibility in verifying the origin of land use, lacking a clear stance, such as Hung Dung, Nghi Phu, Le Loi, and Trung Do… Subjectively, this is due to the capacity and sense of responsibility of the land administration officials at the commune and ward levels.

At a recent meeting, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Sinh, Chairman of the Vinh City People's Committee, expressed his firm stance against delays in issuing land use right certificates and the repeated return of documents. Mr. Nguyen Xuan Sinh further stated that the repeated return of documents to citizens constitutes "harassment." The city needs to continue to improve its working methods. He requested that wards and communes develop specific monthly plans for issuing new and renewed land use right certificates, and compile statistics on the number of land certificates that have been repeatedly returned for processing.