Vinh City: 'Land brokers' auctions cause difficulties for people with real needs

On the morning of October 30, the Provincial People's Council's Legal Committee had a meeting with Vinh City People's Committee under the program of monitoring the auction of land use rights in the area. Photo: Mai Hoa

Many loopholes for "brokers" to operate

At the meeting, the representative of Vinh City People's Committee also admitted that in both currently applied auction forms, direct and indirect, besides advantages, each form also reveals limitations.

Specifically, the direct auction form is forced by brokers to lower prices, causing disorder in the opening sessions as well as creating pressure and confusion for those who really want to participate. In some cases, people who want to buy land have to pay a fee to brokers to be able to buy land.

As for indirect auctions, although land auction information is kept confidential, due to regulations requiring land auction participants to register with the implementing unit which land lot they will choose before voting, this creates a loophole for "land brokers" to know information about participants.

Chairman of Vinh City People's Committee Tran Ngoc Tu made a number of recommendations and proposals to the province to overcome the current shortcomings in land auction work. Photo: Mai Hoa

On the other hand, the regulation of deposit of 20% of the land value according to the starting price makes the information of the auctioneer to buy the land easily exposed. Therefore, the province needs to continue research to be able to secure higher information in land auctions.

In addition, according to Ms. Nguyen Thi Nga - Head of the Department of Justice, Vinh City People's Committee, in reality, people who really need to auction land for use have difficulty accessing information about auctions, while there are "brokers" in "broker associations" so information spreads very quickly.

Therefore, it is necessary to open a section to post land auction information on the electronic information system of the province and city.

The Provincial People's Council's Legal Committee surveyed the land auction planning area in Hung Hoa commune, Vinh city. Photo: Mai Hoa

Solution

The purpose of the land auction was stated to meet the people's housing needs and increase the State's budget revenue. However, some members of the Legal Department's monitoring delegation were concerned about the fact that in some land lots put up for auction, there were cases of winning many lots in the same area. This showed signs of land speculation for profit.

In addition to the shortcomings related to policy mechanisms, some members are also concerned about factors to limit negativity in auction activities, such as determining the starting price to ensure it is close to the market price; selecting reputable and experienced auction units; strengthening close supervision at the city's auctions, ensuring security, order and legal operation of auction units...

The infrastructure of the land auction area in Truong Thi ward is quite well invested. Photo: Mai Hoa

The monitoring delegation of the Provincial People's Council's Legal Committee also proposed that the city overcome shortcomings in connecting technical infrastructure such as the electricity grid and domestic water system from the planning area to the general system, creating conditions for people to build houses and move in.

Along with that is the concern of researching solutions to publicize and make transparent information about planning areas and land auction procedures...