Need to improve capacity for land administration team at commune and ward level

Currently, most of the remote communes of Dien Bien province have 100% of commune cadastral officers. Some communes have 2 cadastral officers. This has helped remote communes, ethnic minority areas, and particularly disadvantaged communes gradually improve land management and protection of natural resources and the environment. However, besides the advantages of a young, dynamic, and enthusiastic cadastral staff, the limitation is that many cadastral officers have only been working for a few years after graduation and do not have much experience in advising the Party Committee on land management... Along with that, land, natural resources, and environmental management is a relatively difficult and complicated field, especially for the communes of Dien Bien province, most of which do not have official cadastral maps. Therefore, monitoring and updating changes is not without many difficulties, and land disputes still occur frequently.

Muong Nhe is one of the remote districts of Dien Bien province. The district has a total of 11 communes and towns, all of which have enough land offices. Of which, 4 communes have 2 land offices. Ms. Nguyen Thi Tam, Deputy Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Muong Nhe district admitted: In 2023, due to the large workload, the Department has not yet carried out inspections on land management in the communes and towns of the district. However, in order to perceive and evaluate the team of land officers through the channel of handling and advising local authorities in land management, currently the land office of Muong Nhe commune is the most outstanding. However, to be fair, if the commune land officers are allowed to focus on their professional work, the efficiency will be better than in communes that often assign trivial tasks to the land office. From investigating and reviewing poor households, conducting population surveys to promoting and mobilizing people to participate in other programs and goals... many tasks must be performed, so there are certain limitations.

Ms. Dieu Thi Them (in black shirt, sitting directly in front), cadastral officer of Muong Nhe commune, Muong Nhe district, talking with reporters of TN&MT Newspaper.

Ms. Tam added: Annually, evaluating cadres in general and commune cadastral cadres in particular is the job of the Department of Internal Affairs. However, from a professional perspective, I personally find it inappropriate. It is difficult for the Department of Internal Affairs to accurately evaluate the professional capacity of commune and ward cadastral cadres... As for the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, according to regulations, it is not allowed to evaluate the professional capacity of this team.

However, from a professional perspective in the same field, we can more closely assess their capacity through exchanging, guiding, and helping localities handle situations related to land and environment; based on the results of advising local authorities to handle issues related to the field of natural resources and environment of the commune cadastral office. And especially, in the work of resolving land disputes, state management of land, environment and minerals...

As for the training and professional development for the communal land staff, in previous years, the Muong Nhe Department of Natural Resources and Environment did it once a year. The Department also mobilized one communal land staff to work at the department each year.

Talking to us, Ms. Dieu Thi Them, a cadastral officer of Muong Nhe commune, Muong Nhe district, shared: Currently, there are many administrative procedures on construction, on administrative sanctions in waste dumping, confirmation from the commune level on environmental impact assessment of small repair works in the area, procedures for land reclamation of households... the locality is still confused in applying. I have asked the Department of Natural Resources and Environment many times but was always answered with instructions on reading the law. There are so many laws, so we are very confused and cannot be proactive in consulting work. Therefore, I personally hope that the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the Department of Economic Infrastructure... in whatever scope organize training for us to know how to do it.

Muong Nhe District Center, Dien Bien Province

It is known that not only the cadastral officers of Muong Nhe district, but also most of the cadastral officers of other districts and towns in Dien Bien province also have many contents related to current professional work, within the scope of handling but are very confused. Discussing with us on this issue, Ms. Hoang Thi Toan, Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Tua Chua district, said: The cadastral officers in Tua Chua are still very limited in terms of map expertise, map software and map processing. In addition, the ability to handle land disputes for the people is also limited, so many petitions from citizens at the commune level cannot be resolved and are sent to the district level. Meanwhile, the role of cadastral officers of communes and wards is extremely important. If the grassroots level does not do well, it will lead to a series of consequences and difficulties for the locality.

It is known that every year, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment and the Division of Natural Resources and Environment of some districts still organize professional training, (some districts do not organize). The training content is mainly new issues, the content of newly issued documents and regulations. However, the district level organizes training for commune cadastral offices not regularly.

Therefore, there are problems arising from the grassroots level that the communal land officers have to ask over and over again, taking a lot of time. Especially, for problems from the grassroots level such as administrative procedures for households that need to renovate the land; residential areas planned at a scale of 1/500 but are not urban planning areas; administrative sanctions for individuals who violate the purpose of arbitrarily changing the discovered purpose after 24 months; confirmation of environmental treatment plans for small repair works in the area... These regulations really need the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Economy - Infrastructure... to provide specific and clear instructions according to the provisions of the Law, and instructions on law enforcement... so that communal and ward land officers can do a good job of state management of land and environment in the locality.

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