Vinh City: 'Every inch of land is gold' puts a lot of pressure on land management

(Baonghean) - One of the thorny issues facing Vinh city is that land management is still inadequate, the progress of issuing new and exchanging land use right certificates is slow, affecting the city's development process.

Nghe An Newspaper had an interview with comrade Vo Viet Thanh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Secretary of Vinh City Party Committee on some related contents.

PV:The city has identified land management and land use right certificate (LURC) issuance as a difficult task. So, how has the city Party Committee and government led and directed this work in the past, comrade?

Comrade Vo Viet Thanh:Vinh City is in the process of development, in addition to the inner city area, the expansion of urban space with the merger of some communes of Nghi Loc and Hung Nguyen districts, accordingly the number of households related to land increases.

Planning work and attracting many investment projects to the area, plus changes in land-related policies; land in the city has great value, "every inch of land is worth its weight in gold"..., put a lot of pressure on land management.

Fully aware that if this work is not well led and directed, it will lead to many consequences, in recent times, the City Party Committee has focused on and directed the work of land management and issuance of land use right certificates; the City People's Committee has also strengthened state management, especially rectifying the encroachment of public land and agricultural land through inspection and examination, promptly detecting and strictly handling violations.

At the same time, the city has taken timely and strict measures to handle officials who commit violations related to land, attaching responsibility to leaders, first of all, the chairmen of the People's Committees of wards and communes. To date, 2 chairmen of the People's Committees of wards and 3 cadastral and urban officials have been disciplined in relation to land management.

Construction of Vinh ancient citadel lake. Photo: Mai Hoa

The work of issuing new and exchanging land use right certificates has also been highly focused by the city's Party Committees and authorities. As of July 15, 2017, the city has issued new land use right certificates for 83,700/85,348 plots, reaching 98.06%.

The allocation of agricultural land is also directed to focus on the rate of land allocation to individual households of more than 80% of the total contracted area (unlike the districts, the city previously did not implement the policy of allocating land to individual households according to Decree 64-CP of 1993 of the Government but only allocated it to groups and cooperatives and starting from 2015, there was a policy of allocating agricultural land to individual households) and the total number of agricultural land use right certificates issued was 11,105.

The city also directed the issuance and exchange of certificates of land use rights for residential and agricultural land for the merged communes in 2008, ensuring the rights of the people. Up to now, the rate of issuance and exchange of certificates of land use rights for residential land has reached 63% and for agricultural land is over 95%.

PV:At the 4th session of the 21st City People's Council, term 2016 - 2021, which took place on July 19 and 20, many City People's Council delegates as well as invited delegates who are leaders of some communes and wards reflected that land management is still lax and has many shortcomings; the progress of granting land use right certificates to families is slow, especially in merged wards and communes. Could you provide more specific information on this content?

Comrade Vo Viet Thanh:It must be admitted that, despite efforts and attempts, the state management of land in Vinh city still has shortcomings and limitations.

Some places still have lax state management of land, leading to encroachment on public and agricultural land, and when discovered, they are not dealt with thoroughly. Meanwhile, inspection and examination work is not timely; awareness of compliance with land laws among a part of the population is not high.

The city has not yet built a land data system, affecting the management process. As mentioned above, previously, Vinh city has not allocated land to individual households according to Decree 64-CP of the Government but only to groups and cooperatives, while according to the 2013 Land Law, the condition for households to receive compensation from investment projects is to have a land use right certificate, leading to difficulties in site clearance, affecting the implementation of project investment progress...

Regarding the issuance of land use right certificates, in general, with the above results, it cannot be said that they are slow. However, currently, the issuance of new or replacement land use right certificates for residential and agricultural land, although the rate of non-issuance is still low, has many problems, affecting the rights of the people.

Currently, the city still has 1,648 plots of land that need to be granted land use right certificates but have not been granted. The reasons are due to disputes, absent owners, undivided inheritance or unfulfilled financial obligations (some policy families are not exempted from tax when separating land titles or changing land use purposes as before).

The most difficult problem currently is the issuance and exchange of land use right certificates for residential and agricultural land for the communes merged in 2008. The reason is that land management in these areas is not strict, records are not complete, and the area increases and fluctuates a lot in the field.

Because the issuance of land use right certificates was implemented since 1996, up to now, the re-issuance has had changes in the division of inherited assets. The re-issuance is in principle not to redefine the limit, but currently, people request that the pre-1980 land limit be recognized at the same time as the re-issuance, so the time to get people's opinions and verify the origin of the land takes a lot of time.

In addition, many land use right certificates are erased, especially in the wrong location. On the map, it is agricultural land, but the certificate is for residential land, but in reality, it is abandoned and has not been marked.

Some areas have incomplete land records, such as Vinh Tan ward, which just approved and completed the measurement of land maps at the end of 2016, started issuing and exchanging land use certificates starting in 2017 and has issued and exchanged 35% of land use right certificates; or Nghi An commune, which is 39%.

Meanwhile, the sense of responsibility and concentration in communes and wards for this work is not high; the sense of responsibility of the city's professional staff is not really close to the grassroots, and has not given strong direction. The number of cadastral staff in some communes and wards is still small, while the workload is large, so the handling is not timely.

There are currently 400 files that have been received by wards and communes but have not been processed and transferred to the city's Land Use Rights Registration Office for issuance...

PV:For Vinh city, “an inch of land” is considered “an inch of gold”; especially as the city is developing with many projects being attracted and invested, the requirement is to do a good job of management and complete the issuance and reissuance of land use right certificates. To better perform this task, can you tell us about the solutions to remove the difficulties and obstacles that are arising in the coming time?

Comrade Vo Viet Thanh:Party committees and authorities from the city to the grassroots level continue to direct resolutely, striving to complete the issuance and re-issuance of land use right certificates in 2018. The city strengthens the dissemination of land policies, clarifying the responsibilities of the people and the responsibilities of local authorities, especially in coordinating with blocks and hamlets to clearly identify the origin of land and owners.

Direct the City People's Committee to increase the number of staff in the city's departments and offices to closely follow the grassroots to focus on directing, guiding and handling records at wards and communes. At the same time, strengthen the inspection and supervision role of the City Party Committee's Inspection Committee, People's Council, and Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee, ensuring the correct and timely implementation of land policies for the people; assign responsibility to the heads of the People's Committees of wards and communes; establish inspection teams and groups to directly resolve complaints related to land, granting land use right certificates, site clearance, complaints between neighboring households, etc.

For cases that have been resolved but are not accepted by the people, if correctly identified, promote the role of mass mobilization to explain, at the same time strengthen mediation work at the grassroots level; increase exchanges and dialogues to resolve arising problems and difficulties, in order to satisfactorily resolve people's requests in a lawful spirit.

Along with the above solutions, the city also recommends that the province support the early implementation of the land data construction project to better serve long-term management work.

PV:Thanks comrade!

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