Concerns about decentralization and delegation of power to commune-level authorities to manage land

DNVN - The workshop on identifying bottlenecks and proposing solutions related to the Land Law held on the afternoon of September 22 focused on discussing many core issues. Among them, concerns about decentralization and delegation of power to local authorities at the commune and ward levels emerged as a major bottleneck, causing difficulties for businesses and people.

Concerns about commune-level enforcement capacity

Mr. Le Anh Van - Director of the Center for Legal Consulting and Human Resources Development under the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (VINASME) said that businesses are facing many difficulties in implementing social housing for workers. The biggest problem is the lack of information about "clean land" because subordinates do not report to the province, leading to the province not being aware of the situation.

In addition, land rental prices in industrial parks are too high (VND130,000/m²), beyond the capacity of small and medium enterprises. The policy of exempting land rental for industrial park investors if they sublease to small enterprises has not been effectively implemented due to the lack of synchronization of related laws.

Mr. Van emphasized: “Previously, the district level had 12 specialized departments, now the commune level has only 2 departments ( economic and cultural). The economic department has to manage land, infrastructure, and enterprises at the same time, leading to overload and not meeting data and document requirements. This is the major bottleneck of current decentralization.”

Mr. Nguyen Van Dinh - Chairman of the Vietnam Real Estate Association also expressed concern: "We are very concerned about the enforcement capacity at the commune and ward levels. How can local authorities really support businesses and projects? The problem lies not only in regulations and procedures, but also in the capacity of the local enforcement apparatus."

Illustration photo.

According to Mr. Dinh, the current legal system, although there is synchronization between the Land Law, the Real Estate Business Law and the Housing Law, still conflicts with the Investment Law, the Construction Law and the Planning Law. This makes the grassroots level confused in application, leading to project bottlenecks.

He recommended establishing a stricter inspection and supervision mechanism at the commune level, while ensuring consistency across the legal system, avoiding the need for constant amendments.

Big bottleneck in land clearance

According to Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hiep - Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Construction Contractors (VACC), the change from three-level government to two-level government is the reason for the stagnation in site clearance work, slowing down the progress of disbursement of public investment capital (only reaching 46.8% after 8 months).

"Currently, ward officials are overloaded, land clearance procedures are complicated and time-consuming, not to mention financial support funds lack a clear legal framework, leading to prolonged complaints. In addition, the distinction between "fund 1" and "fund 2" land has not been clarified by law, causing disputes," Mr. Hiep said.

The Chairman of VACC said that it is necessary to simplify site clearance procedures, clarify regulations on land recovery rates and financial support mechanisms, and clearly define responsibilities for resettlement arrangements to speed up project progress.

Meanwhile, Ms. Nguyen Thi Tho - Permanent Vice President of the Vietnam Notary Association, reflected that the procedures for transferring ownership and registering land changes after the merger of two-level authorities are increasingly complicated.

“Instead of 2 steps like before, the process now has 5 steps. Each step causes delays, making the processing time many times longer, and people have to go back and forth many times,” said Ms. Tho.

In addition, verifying the status of newly granted land, requiring unnecessary copies, and electronic data not being connected… also causes people and businesses to waste a lot of time and money.

Ms. Tho proposed the need to connect data between notaries - land registration offices - tax authorities, standardize records nationwide, and end the situation of receiving one place and not receiving the other, to ensure transparent and smooth procedures.

Representative of the Government Office , Ms. Pham Thuy Hanh - Deputy Director of the Legal Department emphasized that the land database is an extremely important input factor to develop a transparent transaction market, thereby helping land prices approach market prices and simplify administrative procedures. She said that the current difficulties at the grassroots level are only temporary in the transition period. With the determination to synchronize institutions, policies, database deployment and procedural reform, Vietnam can overcome this difficult threshold by early 2026.

She also cited the Government 's Resolution 124 on data development, transformation and digital transformation, considering it a breakthrough solution in perfecting laws and implementing institutions. The Resolution clearly stated the orientation, solutions and roadmap for each specialized database.

According to her, to achieve good results, not only the Central Government and ministries, but also local authorities need to join hands to remove obstacles. After this period, the legal system will be more complete, while technological solutions will strongly support administrative procedure reform.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment is currently drafting the Land Law and many other related documents. Ms. Hanh expressed her hope that the business community, associations and experts will participate more deeply in the research process and contribute ideas so that the policies are closer to reality and more appropriate when issued.

Minh Thu

Source: https://doanhnghiepvn.vn/kinh-te/ban-khoan-viec-phan-cap-phan-quyen-cho-chinh-quyen-cap-xa-quan-ly-dat-dai/20250923062637564