Regulations on land use for socio-economic development projects.

Reply:

Article 127 of the 2024 Land Law stipulates the use of land for socio-economic development projects through agreements on acquiring land use rights or existing land use rights, as follows:

1. Land use for socio-economic development projects through agreements on land use rights is carried out in the following cases:

a) Cases where the project is implemented but does not fall under the land acquisition cases stipulated in Article 79 of this Law;

b) In the case of using land to implement a commercial housing construction investment project, only agreements on the right to use residential land are permitted;

c) Cases that do not utilize state budget funds and fall under the land reclamation provisions of Article 79 of this Law, where the investor chooses to negotiate the acquisition of land use rights and does not propose land reclamation.

2. Land for which land use rights have been agreed upon for the implementation of socio-economic development projects, and which the State has allocated, leased, or recognized land use rights for, shall be subject to specific land use rights allocations. In cases where, within the land area specified in Clause 1 of this Article, there is land managed by a State agency or organization that cannot be separated into an independent project, the land managed by the State agency or organization shall be included in the total land area for project development and shall be reclaimed by the State for allocation or lease to the investor to implement the project without auctioning the land use rights or conducting a bidding process to select the investor for the project using the land.

3. The conditions for land use to implement socio-economic development projects through agreements on land use rights as stipulated in Clause 1 of this Article include:

a) In accordance with the approved and published district-level land use plan;

b) The investor must meet the conditions stipulated in Article 122 of this Law; in the case of using land to implement a commercial housing construction investment project, an agreement on the acquisition of residential land use rights may be reached;

c) There must be written approval from the provincial People's Committee regarding the agreement on land use rights for the project implementation.

4. The State has a policy to encourage agreements on land use rights for the implementation of socio-economic development projects in the cases stipulated in Clause 1 of this Article as follows:

a) Households and individuals using land that have not yet been granted a Certificate of Land Use Rights, a Certificate of Ownership of Housing and Land Use Rights, a Certificate of Land Use Rights, Ownership of Housing and Other Assets Attached to Land, or a Certificate of Land Use Rights and Ownership of Assets Attached to Land, but meet the conditions for granting such a certificate, may transfer land use rights, lease, sublease land use rights, or contribute land use rights as capital to implement projects;

b) In cases where an investor has received land use rights to implement a project, but at the time the land use rights expire, the land procedures for implementing the project have not yet been completed, the investor may continue to carry out the procedures to implement the project without having to go through the extension procedure.

5. In cases where an agreement is reached to acquire land use rights for continued production and business activities without changing the land use purpose, the provisions of this Law on the transfer of land use rights shall apply.

6. A person currently using land who proposes an investment project, if it falls under the cases stipulated in Article 79 of this Law but is consistent with the land use plan and has requested a change in land use purpose, and the competent State agency approves the investment policy and simultaneously approves the investor in accordance with the law on investment, may use the land to implement the investment project without the State reclaiming the land as prescribed in this Law.

In cases where a person currently holding the right to use residential land or residential and other land proposes a commercial housing investment project that conforms to the land use plan, and requests a change in land use purpose, and the competent State agency approves the investment policy and simultaneously approves the investor in accordance with the law on investment, then they are allowed to use the land to implement the project.

7. The Government shall provide detailed regulations for this Article.