Proposal to reclaim land to implement Viet Nhat Vocational Training Center Project
(Baonghean.vn) - Based on the opinions of relevant departments and Vinh City People's Committee, the Tax Department will propose that the Provincial People's Committee consider recovering the exempted land rent, abolishing incentives and reclaiming land to implement the Viet Nhat High-Quality Vocational Training Center Project.
Land acquisition proposal!
Recently, the shortcomings and violations in the Viet Nhat High Quality Vocational Training Center Project (hereinafter referred to as Viet Nhat Center) in Quan Bau Ward, Vinh City have been reflected by Nghe An Newspaper through articles "“Land acquisition” project disguised as high-quality vocational training center”, “Verify vocational training of Viet Nhat Center”. On February 14, 2023, the Tax Department issued Document No. 62/CT-HKDTK reporting to the Provincial People's Committee on a number of contents related to Viet Nhat Center.
According to the Tax Department, Viet Nhat Center was established under Decision No. 3020/QD-UB dated December 18, 2003 of Vinh City People's Committee; the Provincial People's Committee leased 2,887.0m2land in Quan Bau ward, Vinh city (Decision No. 599/QD-UBND.DC dated December 12, 2007) to implement the high-quality Viet Nhat Center Project with a land lease term of 40 years. According to the socialization policy, Viet Nhat Center is exempted from land rent for the period from January 2011 to the end of December 2047.
However, by the end of 2017, the Viet Nhat Center Project was among the projects behind schedule, and the Provincial People's Committee extended the completion time. According to Decision 5830/QD.UBND dated December 1, 2017 of the Provincial People's Committee, the Center must pay additional money during the extension period before December 31, 2017; complete and put the project into operation before November 30, 2019, otherwise the project will be terminated, the land will be reclaimed and related legal documents will be canceled. On December 12, 2017, the Vinh City Tax Department announced the additional money to be paid during the extension period of land use progress for Viet Nhat Center, with the amount to be paid being 119,210,000 VND.
By May 29, 2020, after reviewing the exemption of land rent, Vinh City Tax Department issued Official Letter No. 1681/CCT-KTr2 confirming that the extension period granted by the Provincial People's Committee had expired, but Viet Nhat Center had not yet completed the project. At the same time, on January 28, 2021, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment issued Official Letter No. 738/STNMT-QLD on the inspection report of slow-progressing projects in the area to the Provincial People's Committee. Here, it was determined that at Viet Nhat Center Project, there were many opinions reflecting that the investor was using the land for the wrong purpose, using it as a warehouse, workshop, and wood storage yard. The local government had notified and reminded many times but had not yet made any corrections. Through actual inspection, the investor was using the land for the wrong purpose (the practice workshop is currently being used as a sawmill; the post-training product production area is currently being used by staff). The project was extended by the Provincial People's Committee to be completed and put into operation before November 30, 2019. However, at the time of inspection, the project had not been completed, the constructed items were not used for the right purpose; the project violated the Investment Law, Land Law and Point i, Clause 1, Article 64 of the Land Law; the investor had not strictly complied with the extension decision of the Provincial People's Committee.
On March 18, 2022, the Provincial People's Committee issued Document No. 1793/UBND.CN to handle slow-progressing projects in the area, including the project of Viet Nhat Center. Based on the direction of the Provincial People's Committee, the Tax Department twice sent a working invitation to Viet Nhat Center by post to the tax registration address but both were returned. Faced with this reality, the Tax Department requested the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to give its opinion on the land use of Viet Nhat Center (Document No. 6840/CT-HKDTK dated November 16, 2022). On January 3, 2023, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment responded with Document No. 22/STNMT-QLD with the following content:“The Land Law only stipulates an extension of land use progress of 24 months. If the extension expires and the investor has not yet put the land into use, the State will reclaim the land without compensation for the land and assets attached to the land, except in cases of force majeure (there is no provision for a second extension of land use progress).”
Based on the provisions of relevant laws and the opinions of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the Tax Department proposes that the Provincial People's Committee recover the land rent that has been exempted for the Viet Nhat High-Quality Center; decide to abolish incentives according to the provisions of law; recover land according to the provisions of Point I, Clause 1, Article 64, Land Law.
The Tax Department's proposed report via Official Dispatch No. 62/CT-HKDTK dated February 14, 2023 was then commented by the Provincial People's Committee in Official Dispatch No. 1101/UBND-KT dated February 22, 2023 with the following content:“The Tax Department shall preside over and coordinate with relevant departments, branches and units based on State regulations and regulations on socialization incentive policies of the province to inspect, review and clarify whether enterprises meet the conditions and criteria to enjoy socialization incentive policies or not, thereby reporting and advising the Provincial People's Committee to consider and handle in accordance with regulations”.
No change of mind!
Pursuant to the direction in Official Dispatch No. 1101/UBND-KL dated February 22, 2023 of the Provincial People's Committee, the Tax Department has sent a document requesting the Departments of Construction, Finance, Natural Resources and Environment, Planning and Investment, Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs, Vinh City People's Committee to give their opinions on the land use of Viet Nhat Center. In particular, the departments are requested to clarify issues related to planning, design, project investment time; recruitment, vocational training, meeting criteria and standards in vocational training; clarifying the compliance with the list of types, criteria, scale, and standards of facilities implementing socialization in the field of vocational education and training; determining the time frame and area of improper use, giving opinions on whether the conditions for land use are met or subject to land recovery.
As for the Vinh City People's Committee, it is requested to clarify the following contents: Since the land lease until now, for what period of time has Viet Nhat Center used the land for the wrong purpose? How many square meters of land is used for the wrong purpose?2of 2,887.0 m2leased land? What are the results of the handling of land violations against Viet Nhat Center by Vinh City People's Committee? At the same time, we would like to request Vinh City People's Committee to give its opinion on whether Viet Nhat Center is subject to land recovery due to violations of land laws as prescribed in Article 64 of the Land Law or not?
At the meeting with Nghe An Newspaper reporters on August 28, 2023, a representative of the Tax Department said that the Department had received written responses from the departments and Vinh City People's Committee in accordance with its functions and duties. In particular, the Department of Construction determined that although Viet Nhat Center was granted an extension of the project implementation time by the Provincial People's Committee, it continued to violate the construction time; the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs determined that from 2018 to present, Viet Nhat Center has not participated in activities in the field of vocational education, has not reported the results of annual and ad hoc training enrollment to the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs; the Department of Natural Resources and Environment maintained its viewpoint in Official Dispatch No. 22/STNMT-QLD dated February 3, 2023 and requested further clarification on whether the project's delay was a case of force majeure or not?...
With the Vinh City People's Committee, there is an opinion in Document No. 4664 /UBND-TNMT dated August 25, 2023, determining that since the Provincial People's Committee leased the land, Viet Nhat Center has not used the land for the right purpose of building a High-Quality Vocational Training Center. On an area of 2,887m22, currently there is a flat roof house and a factory, the rest is vacant land; the campus is surrounded by a fence and the gate is locked, not in operation.
The view of Vinh City People's Committee is:“The use of land by the Viet Nhat High-Quality Vocational Training Center has violated the provisions of Point i, Clause 1, Article 64 of the 2013 Land Law: "Land allocated or leased by the State to implement an investment project but not used within 12 consecutive months or the land use progress is 24 months behind the progress recorded in the investment project from the date of receiving the land handover on site must be put into use; in case the land is not put into use, the investor is granted a 24-month extension of use and must pay the State an amount of money corresponding to the land use fee and land rent for the period of delay in project implementation during this period; after the extension period expires and the investor has not put the land into use, the State will reclaim the land without compensation for the land and assets attached to the land, except in cases of force majeure".
Question: How will the Tax Department report and advise the Provincial People's Committee to consider and handle Viet Nhat Center? The Tax Department representative replied: The opinions of relevant departments, branches and Vinh City People's Committee will be compiled by the Department and reported to the Provincial People's Committee. In the report, the Department will continue to propose that the Provincial People's Committee, based on the provisions of the Investment Law, Construction Law, and Land Law, recover the exempted land rent, decide to abolish incentives, and recover land for the project implementation of Viet Nhat Center.