Continue to reclaim land from agricultural and forestry companies and youth volunteer teams to hand over to local management and people for use.

On the morning of December 7, the 17th Session of the 18th Nghe An Provincial People's Council held a question-and-answer session on the following topics: "Management and effective use of land originating from state-owned agricultural and forestry farms and youth volunteer teams. Current situation, causes and solutions to enhance the effectiveness of management and effective use of land in the coming time".

Comrades: Thai Thanh Quy - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation; Nguyen Nam Dinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Nguyen Nhu Khoi - Member of the Provincial Party Executive Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council chaired the meeting.

Attending the question and answer session were comrades: Nguyen Van Thong - Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee; Nguyen Duc Trung - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Hoang Nghia Hieu - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee; comrades of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial Party Executive Committee; delegates of the Provincial People's Council and invited delegates.

LARGE AREA MANAGEMENT, BUT INEFFECTIVE USE

Asking the first question to the Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, delegate Le Thi Theu (Tan Ky District Delegation) said that there are currently 5 households in Tan Phu Commune (Tan Ky) that have built houses and lived stably since 1992 within the land use boundary of Song Con Agricultural Joint Stock Company. She requested the Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to provide solutions to resolve the above issue to ensure the rights of the households.

In addition, currently, agricultural and forestry companies, protective forest management boards, and youth volunteer teams are assigned by the State to manage and use a large area of ​​forestry land, while people, especially ethnic minorities in mountainous areas, still lack land for production. Delegate Theu asked the Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to provide solutions to harmonize the management and use of land by units and the people's need for land for production.

Delegate Hoang Thi Hong Hanh (Do Luong District Delegate Group) proposed clarifying the state management responsibilities of relevant departments and branches regarding the shortcomings and limitations in the management and effective use of land originating from state-owned agricultural and forestry farms and the Youth Volunteer Force.

Presenting the current situation, in the recent past, the transformation of the model of agricultural and forestry farms has essentially only been carried out by changing the name, without any fundamental changes in the management and corporate governance mechanism; most of the land and forests have not been checked and measured in the field, and cadastral maps have not been established, creating loopholes for law violations and causing difficulties in land management. Regarding the assignment of land in the style of "Land allocation, rent collection"; leasing, lending, encroachment, overlap, disputes, and lawsuits, delegate Nguyen Cong Van (Nghi Loc district delegation) requested the Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to provide solutions for the management and use of land and forests of agricultural and forestry farms, promptly overcoming the above-mentioned shortcomings.

Responding to the question of delegate Theu, Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Hoang Quoc Viet said that the land of Song Con Agriculture Joint Stock Company was approved by the Provincial People's Committee for the use of more than 2,000 hectares. During the process of the company preparing a plan to submit to the Provincial People's Committee for recovery, the remaining land area related to 5 households in Tan Phu commune (Tan Ky) was left.

Upon receiving voters' opinions, the Department established an inspection team, made a record of the recovery of the land area currently used by 5 households. It is expected that in December 2023, the Department will submit to the Provincial People's Committee a decision to recover the area currently used by 5 households and hand it over to Tan Ky district to issue land use right certificates to the people.

Regarding the questions of other delegates, the Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment replied: Given the current situation of agricultural and forestry companies, and Youth Volunteer Force teams managing large areas, using them ineffectively, and people lacking land, from 2014 to present, the Department has consulted on land use plans for 11 single-member LLCs and 4 forestry companies with an area of ​​51,337 hectares; the Provincial People's Committee has recovered and handed over to local management 12,794 hectares to allocate land for people to produce.

Currently, the management boards of protective forests and special-use forests manage 516,034 hectares; 4 Youth Volunteer Force teams are managing and using 22,970 hectares. The Department's solution is to propose that the District People's Committee accelerate the establishment and approval of land use plans to allocate land for people to use. The Department will coordinate with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the districts to review ineffectively used land funds, and allocate them outright to continue to recover and allocate them to people for production.

The Provincial People's Committee continues to direct relevant sectors to strengthen inspections of land management and use by companies, teams, and management boards; organize reviews and separation of land areas, including land currently used by people for housing, to hand over to localities. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development needs to review the planning of 3 types of forests, promote economic efficiency; learn from experience and direct detailed reviews and separations to avoid shortcomings like before.

Agreeing with the opinion that the management and land use of forestry companies and Youth Volunteer Teams are not effective, including historical factors, the Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment said that, in the face of the above situation, the Party and the State have a policy of rearranging companies and teams to promote land efficiency.

In the coming time, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment will advise the Provincial People's Committee to direct agricultural and forestry companies to manage and use land more effectively, minimizing the situation of "renting land for farming" and "empty contracts". The Department will advise the Provincial People's Committee to allocate and lease land; coordinate with the Provincial Tax Department to collect land rent from agricultural and forestry companies; coordinate to inspect and examine the activities of companies, avoiding cases of law violations as in the past.

Discussing the responsibility for the above-mentioned shortcomings and limitations, Mr. Hoang Quoc Viet said that the first responsibility belongs to the land users, which are companies, forest management boards, and Youth Volunteer Teams. The second responsibility is that of the competent authorities who have not regularly inspected and examined the land management and use activities of companies, management boards, and teams.

Third, the responsibility of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment is not to regularly inspect and check the land use situation of companies, management boards, and teams. Fourth, the responsibility of the People's Committees at district and commune levels is to make a record and handle violations according to regulations when they occur. If they exceed their authority, they must report to the competent authority for handling.

PROLONGED DISPUTES, DELAY IN ISSUING LAND USE RIGHTS CERTIFICATES

Continuing to ask the Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, delegate Nguyen Hong Son (Ky Son delegation) requested to inform about the current situation of overlapping production land, residential land of the people with land of agricultural and forestry companies; Causes, responsibilities; Has the approved planning of Nghe An province separated all overlapping areas, resolved existing problems in planning of forest types and solutions in the coming time?

Delegate Nguyen Hong Son also requested to inform about the implementation results, the reasons for land allocation associated with forest allocation and granting of land use right certificates to people and requested to clarify the causes, difficulties, and solutions for the implementation of land allocation and granting of land use right certificates to people for land funds that have been recovered and allocated to localities that are still slow in the coming time.

Delegate Vi Van Quy (Quy Hop Delegate Group) said that in Quy Hop district, there has been a complicated land dispute between the people and Song Hieu Company. How has the Department of Natural Resources and Environment advised on handling the above content? Delegate Tran Dinh Toan (Do Luong District Delegate Group) asked the Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to provide solutions in the work of inspection, examination, and settlement of land disputes originating from agricultural and forestry farms.

Responding to the question of delegate Nguyen Hong Son, Mr. Hoang Quoc Viet said that agricultural companies were established early, the law was not strict, the area was not fully measured, so there was still a situation of overlapping with people's land. In more than 12,000 hectares that the province has recovered, there is a large area of ​​land that people have lived and produced.

To solve this problem, Mr. Viet said, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment will continue to advise the Provincial People's Committee to review and separate and issue certificates to people, including residential land and production land. For areas that companies, teams, and management boards illegally assign to people, the Department will advise the Provincial People's Committee to reclaim and issue certificates to people. For areas that households illegally encroached after July 1, 2014, the company and local authorities will handle and restore the original state.

Mr. Viet also said that the Provincial Planning has been approved by the Prime Minister but only regulates general and overall issues. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development will advise on adjusting the planning of 3 types of forests and localities will review and adjust the district-level land use planning for the period 2021-2030 to adjust to the actual situation.

Regarding the Project on forest allocation associated with land allocation, Mr. Hoang Quoc Viet said that the Provincial People's Committee has approved the extension of the project implementation. The total area of ​​forest and forestry land in the province by 2023 has reached 69.12% of the approved area; the total number of households assigned is 22,901, with an area of ​​98,948 hectares, accounting for 37.2%. In the period of 2018-2022, 13,458 dossiers have been received and processed, and 12,179 dossiers have been returned, accounting for more than 90.36%. Currently, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is directing consulting units to speed up the progress of forest allocation associated with forestry land allocation.

Regarding the land disputes between people and agricultural and forestry companies, Mr. Hoang Quoc Viet said that recently, the Provincial Party Committee and Provincial People's Committee have paid attention and directed the handling of cases. In Quy Hop district, the Department has received, inspected and reviewed all legal documents of Song Hieu Forestry Company.

For households requesting to issue certificates on the area assigned by the forestry company under Song Hieu Forestry Company, after inspection, the Department assessed that they did not meet the conditions for issuing certificates. The Department advised the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee to report and respond to 51 households in Dong Hop and Tam Hop communes of Quy Hop district. The Department directed the Land Registration Office to coordinate with the locality to re-measure the cadastral map of the agricultural land area in Bai Ke hamlet, Dong Hop commune and handed it over to the commune to issue certificates to people according to regulations.

The Department of Natural Resources and Environment also established a team to inspect the issuance of land use right certificates to Dong Hop Forestry and concluded that the issuance of certificates was in accordance with regulations at that time. The Department advised the Provincial People's Committee to reclaim 762 hectares of land from Dong Hop Forestry and hand it over to the locality for people to produce.

Regarding the question of delegate Tran Dinh Toan, Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Hoang Quoc Viet said that the Department was assigned by the Provincial People's Committee to handle many petitions, while the number of inspectors was limited, so the Department could not carry out specialized and thematic inspections of agricultural and forestry land. In the past, the Department has only focused on handling petitions, complaints, and land disputes.

Inspection and examination work is the responsibility of many sectors and localities. In the coming time, the Department will focus on inspecting a number of companies that show signs of violating the law in land management and use.

Mr. Hoang Quoc Viet - Director of Department of Natural Resources and Environment

Raising the issue, currently there exists a situation where many residential land plots and agricultural land originating from farms and forestry farms, although they have been handed over to people for use, have not been granted land use right certificates due to incomplete legal documents, delegate Ho Sy Nguyet (Quynh Luu district delegation) requested the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to have solutions to resolve the above difficulties and problems.

Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Hoang Quoc Viet acknowledged the current situation as reflected by delegate Nguyet. For land that people built houses on before the establishment of the forestry farm, the land will be recovered and handed over to the locality to issue certificates to the people. For areas originating from the forestry farm that were transferred without authority, they will be handled according to Decree 43 and Decision 28 of the Provincial People's Committee. Therefore, it is recommended that localities review these cases to speed up the issuance of certificates.

Currently, the area and budget for surveying are very large, while the province is facing financial difficulties so it has not been able to allocate much. In the coming period, the Department will report to the Provincial People's Committee to try to allocate about 50% according to the Central regulations and in about 3-4 years, this problem will be resolved.

As for the immediate solution, households who wish to, due to urgent needs, can pay to have the land re-measured and from there have a basis for issuing land use right certificates. At the same time, in urgent cases, it is recommended that districts contract with branches of registration offices to extract and measure.

Regarding the overall, long-term solution, in the coming time, a technical design estimate will be established and submitted to the Provincial People's Committee for approval of the project to implement land measurement of agricultural and forestry farms, teams, management boards, and land that has been handed over to localities.

Delegate Nguyen Thi Thuy An (Anh Son Delegate Group) requested the Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to inform about the solutions to speed up the progress and complete the land recovery of the Youth Volunteer Corps 1 and hand over the land to the locality for management in order to develop the socio-economy and stabilize the people's lives. In addition, the delegate requested the Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to inform about the Department's plan and solutions for measuring and establishing cadastral records to issue certificates to people for the area of ​​1,536.78 hectares of land of Anh Son Forestry Company that was recovered by the Provincial People's Committee.

In response to this question, Mr. Hoang Quoc Viet said that on February 20, 2023, the Provincial People's Committee agreed to direct the land recovery of the Youth Volunteer Force 1 to hand over the land to Anh Son district and communes. On that basis, it is expected that in the first quarter of 2024, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment will direct the Registration Office to complete the technical design and estimate and then conduct measurements and advise the Provincial People's Committee to issue a decision to recover the land for handover to the people for use.

On the other hand, for the land of Anh Son Forestry Company, it was implemented before Resolution 30 of the Politburo and Decree 118 of the Government. However, when Anh Son Forestry Company was dissolved, it did not liquidate the contract with the people. In the coming time, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment will advise the Provincial People's Committee to establish an interdisciplinary team to review and advise the Provincial People's Committee to direct the resolution of this issue.

Regarding the current situation in Quy Chau district, the Provincial People's Committee has recovered 74 hectares of land from Quy Chau Forestry and handed it over to the locality. Currently, people have assets such as crops on the land. Delegate Vuong Quang Minh (Quy Chau District Delegate Group) requested the Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to inform about solutions to carry out site clearance, redistribute production land to people and the plan to recover the area that has not yet been decided to recover about 120 hectares in Quy Chau and Quy Hop districts.

Responding to the question of delegate Vuong Quang Minh, Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Hoang Quoc Viet said that for areas that have been decided to be handed over, the Department is directing the Land Registration Office to prepare technical designs and estimates for recovery and handover to local management, and strive to complete the procedures for recovery and handover to the people of Quy Chau by 2024.

Continuing to question the Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, delegate Hoang Lan (Nghi Loc District Delegation) requested to know the coordination work of all levels, sectors, localities, agencies, units, organizations and individuals in reclaiming agricultural and forestry land and returning land to localities for people to use. What are the limitations and shortcomings, causes, responsibilities and solutions in the coming time? Of the 12,794 hectares of land that the Provincial People's Committee has reclaimed from 11 agricultural and forestry companies, how much area cannot be handed over to people due to remote and mountainous conditions and what is the solution to manage this land fund?

Answering the question of delegate Lan, Mr. Hoang Quoc Viet said that so far, only 4 agricultural and forestry companies have prepared documents for the Provincial People's Committee to allocate land; 11 protective forest management boards have conducted measurements and made cadastral maps, 3 teams and 1 national park and 2 conservation areas are completing technical design and estimates; the Department is implementing the recovered areas.

Up to now, the Provincial People's Committee has recovered and handed over to localities for management 12,794 hectares. Currently, the District People's Committees have been and are making plans for land allocation. In the area recovered by the People's Committee, there are 9,500 hectares of productive agricultural and forestry land, more than 3,000 hectares of residential land, rocky hills and mountains, and traffic land.

Regarding the question of delegate Lu Thi Khuyen (Con Cuong District Delegation) regarding the land of Nghe An Tea Corporation, Mr. Hoang Quoc Viet said that the company was assigned by the State to manage and use 5,152 hectares. After placing markers on the field and measuring the cadastral map, the total land area that the company is using is more than 1,900 hectares. The total area recovered by the company in many localities is more than 3,800 hectares. During the implementation process, the units have not yet reviewed all the land that the company has assigned to people for residence, and the land is contracted, so some violations occurred.

In November 2023, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment established a team to inspect the land use of Nghe An Tea Corporation in Con Cuong district. When the results are available, they will report to the Provincial People's Council and Provincial People's Committee to handle violations according to regulations.

CONTINUE TO REVIEW, RECOVER, AND GIVE LAND TO CAPABLE ENTITIES TO PROMOTE LAND VALUE

Concluding the question and answer session, Provincial Party Secretary and Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Thai Thanh Quy said that 12 Provincial People's Council delegates raised 20 questions. The questions were clear, concise, and focused, reflecting the issues that the Provincial People's Council chose to question were correct and accurate.

The atmosphere of questioning was frank and responsible from both sides. The Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment had a firm grasp of the issues, answered frankly, clarified the existing problems and limitations; proposed a number of solutions and measures in the immediate and long-term periods, ensuring the functions and tasks of the sector.

At the same time, the Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Director of the Department of Finance, the Secretary of the Provincial Youth Union, and the Deputy Director of the Provincial Tax Department coordinated to answer and clarify the content of the delegates' questions and clarify the responsibilities of relevant agencies, units, and localities.

Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Thai Thanh Quy said that Nghe An is one of the provinces with a large number of state-owned farms, forestry farms, and volunteer youth groups. There were periods in the past when Nghe An was a bright spot in the country in organizing the activities of state-owned farms, forestry farms, and volunteer youth groups.

There was a period when the farms, forestry farms, and youth volunteer teams made important contributions to the socio-economic development of the province, concentrated in rural and mountainous areas, such as; providing plant varieties, livestock breeds, technical services and consumption, processing, building concentrated raw material areas; opening up new economic zones for sparsely populated and disadvantaged areas. Many farms and forestry farms combine economic development with ensuring national defense and security in key, disadvantaged and border areas of the province.

However, when entering the period of innovation, integration, and development of the socialist-oriented market economy, the operating model of agricultural and forestry farms and Youth Volunteer Force gradually revealed shortcomings, ineffective operations in the new mechanism, even land waste, and was the source of conflicts of interest. If not resolved, it could become a complicated point, a hot spot.

Assessing the conversion of forestry farms and youth volunteer teams as difficult, complicated, and requiring a lot of time and resources, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Council said that when establishing legal documents, there was a lack of completeness, and even the model of the team was not clearly defined in the guiding documents of the Land Law.

In addition, the large area, wide area, many changes, when measured differently from before. The management and arrangement of farms and forestry farms are related to the interests of many stakeholders; many governing documents.

The Chairman of the Provincial People's Council assessed that in recent times, the Provincial People's Committee has paid attention to the State's general policy and carried out the rearrangement of forestry farms with great efforts. However, these efforts have not been achieved and have revealed many shortcomings.

That is, the conversion, arrangement, and dissolution are still slow; there are many problems, the effectiveness is unclear, leading to disputes in some places; most of the land has not been measured, counted, mapped, or had its records and procedures for granting certificates; the situation of using land for the wrong subjects and purposes still occurs, "rent collection" is common.

The rate of granting land use right certificates for the recovered land area handed over to local management has only reached nearly 15%. Inspection, examination and handling of existing problems and violations have not been regular, continuous, resolute and have not been resolved thoroughly.

On that basis, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Thai Thanh Quy requested the Provincial People's Committee, all levels, sectors and localities to pay attention to implementing 5 solutions. First of all, it is necessary to strengthen the leadership and direction role of Party committees and authorities in a more drastic and effective manner because this is a difficult task.

To continue to effectively arrange agricultural and forestry farms and Youth Volunteer Force teams to avoid waste, promote the efficiency of land resources, avoid complaints and disputes, Provincial Party Secretary and Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Thai Thanh Quy proposed to unify the viewpoint, to continue to consider and review the management and effective use of land by agricultural and forestry companies.

If the land is not used effectively, has not paid taxes, or is left fallow, it will be reclaimed to be allocated to people with production needs, or to other entities with financial capacity, market capacity, and other capacities to develop and promote the value of the land.

Chairman of Nghe An Provincial People's Council Thai Thanh Quy

The Chairman of the Provincial People's Council said that this is a difficult task, requiring many resources, so the Provincial People's Committee needs to balance and allocate reasonable resources to conduct measurements, set up landmarks, establish cadastral records, and issue land use right certificates to entities to soon put the land into cultivation and production, avoiding prolonged disputes and lawsuits.

Continue to review difficulties, obstacles and shortcomings. If they are under the authority of the province, hold inter-sectoral meetings to resolve them thoroughly. If they are under the authority of the Central Government and higher-level agencies, pursue, closely monitor, make recommendations and resolve them as quickly as possible.

Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Thai Thanh Quy also requested that in handling matters related to this issue, relevant levels, sectors and units must be impartial, objective and transparent; at the same time, they must be resolute, drastic, and handle violations clearly, ensuring fairness, not allowing them to linger or drag on.

Emphasizing that this is an issue of concern to voters and people, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Thai Thanh Quy requested the Provincial People's Committee to include this content in the annual thematic report for the Provincial People's Council; the Provincial People's Council and delegates regularly monitor and supervise the implementation after the question and answer session.