Bustling... land subdivision
After a long time visiting a friend who works in the Thai Hoa area, following some polite greetings, I habitually asked about the situation there. He smiled subtly: "Everything is still stable. Only the land situation is probably similar to the Vinh area, which is quite good."
Nhat Lan• February 2, 2026
After a long visit to see a friend working in the Thai Hoa area, following some polite greetings, I habitually asked about the situation there. He smiled subtly: "Everything is still stable. Only the land situation seems similar to Vinh, quite lively?" Surprised, I asked: "What do you mean by lively?" He replied: "Well, there's a lot of activity with land subdivision, splitting plots, and buying and selling. Quite a few people from other localities are buying thousands of square meters, even hectares, then splitting them up and advertising them for sale on Zalo and Facebook..."
Then he opened his phone and busily scrolled through Facebook searching for "land markets." Stopping at a Facebook account named BB that posted many pictures and videos of land, he said: "Here, for example, is a 'specialist' in brokering land in the Nghia Dan and former Thai Hoa areas. Large plots of land with access roads, divided into dozens of lots, just like new residential areas invested in and auctioned by the State…"
Indeed, it was true. The plots of land advertised on this Facebook account all had paved access roads and low fences to demarcate each lot, ranging from 20 to 30 lots or more. I chose a fairly large-scale development and asked him to take me to see it. He said: "It's not difficult at all. Within a radius of about five kilometers, there are five similar developments like this..."
I spent nearly two hours with him, viewing five subdivided land plots for sale. The plots shared common characteristics: they were located quite far from the city center and had areas of approximately 5,000-6,000 square meters.2The entrance is a 7-meter-wide cement road; a few solar-powered streetlights have been erected. He said that these plots of land previously belonged to one or two local families, with only a portion designated for residential use, the rest being garden land and land for perennial crops. After acquiring the land, the owners changed the land use purpose, built access roads, and divided the land into plots of about 150-200 square meters.2For sale.
When asked if this violated the law, he replied: “I found out that it doesn’t violate land laws, and this type of business is also taking place in many localities. However, it gives rise to many problems. The most obvious is the technical infrastructure. It’s both lacking and technically substandard. For example, the common pathways between the land plots we visit are built haphazardly by the landowners, not according to standards; while there is no electricity grid, water supply, or drainage system. People who buy land here will face difficulties and disadvantages in the future.”
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Listening to you, I recall that in early 2021, the former Nghia Dan and Tan Ky districts also experienced land subdivision and plot sales without proper planning, leading the authorities to issue warnings. Several documents from the former Nghia Dan and Tan Ky districts mentioned the situation where some households and individuals arbitrarily subdivided residential land and adjacent garden/pond land for plot sales and transfer of land use rights. They pointed out the unauthorized construction of roads within the land plots without the approval of competent authorities, affecting land use planning, inconsistent with construction planning, and violating construction regulations. The subdivision of land into many plots, creating spontaneous new residential areas without electricity, water supply, or drainage systems, will negatively impact residents and, in the future, create a burden on social welfare.
I mentioned this to him. He said that there are still many shortcomings. In fact, allowing this type of land speculation to occur is unfair to legitimate projects, including those involving the development of state-owned land. In legitimate projects, besides paying taxes and fees as required, they must invest in proper infrastructure such as electricity, roads, and drainage systems. Because of this large investment, the unit price will be many times higher than those of subdivided plots lacking technical infrastructure. Therefore, this is an issue that needs to be considered by the competent authorities, and regulations should be put in place to strengthen management.
I agree with what you said. Without solutions to strengthen management, allowing the rampant land subdivision and sale to continue like this will not only create problems but also have many potential negative consequences in the future!
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Design:Huu Quan; Illustration:Van Truong
