Enterprises expect the Land Law (amended) to be passed soon to remove obstacles.

The Land Law (amended) is being considered and discussed by the 15th National Assembly and is expected to be approved at its sixth session. Many businesses in Ha Tinh expect that the Land Law (amended) will soon be passed, contributing to resolving existing problems and difficulties, ensuring legitimate rights and interests, creating conditions for equal and transparent access to land, and maximizing land resources.

Among them, many business opinions said that, when implementing the 2013 Land Law, the land recovery work in Ha Tinh has been carried out relatively well so far. However, the land recovery of projects with slow progress still has many problems and shortcomings, causing losses to investors.

photo-2.-project-slow-progress.jpg — *Desolate scene at Xuan Thanh Land Urban Area project (Nguyen Du ward, Ha Tinh city).*

Mr. Tran Van Phong - Director of Hong Hoang Company Limited said: "According to the provisions of Point i, Clause 1, Article 64, Article 82 and Article 92 of the 2013 Land Law, for projects whose land is recovered due to slow progress, investors will not be compensated for land and assets attached to the land".

“If the land of projects that are behind schedule is reclaimed according to the Land Law, investors will not be compensated for the land and assets attached to the land. This land fund will be put into the land fund for auction, and investors will not be able to exercise related rights. This causes great damage to investors and investors often file lawsuits due to lack of compensation for land, assets and investment costs on land,” said Mr. Tran Van Phong.

Meanwhile, according to Article 4 of Joint Circular No. 14/2015/TTLT-BTNMT-BTP dated April 4, 2015 of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Ministry of Justice , the land recovered from projects behind schedule will be put up for auction of land use rights; the State will recover land from the seller of assets attached to the leased land to allow the buyer of the assets to continue leasing the land.

On the other hand, according to Decree No. 01/2017/ND-CP amending and supplementing a number of Decrees detailing the implementation of the Land Law, in which Clause 14, Article 2 (supplementing Article 15b to Decree No. 43/2014/ND-CP) stipulates how to handle land use rights and assets attached to land when reclaiming land in case of termination of investment project activities according to the provisions of law, the investor is allowed to continue using the land for 24 months from the date the investment project is terminated.

Within 24 months from the date the investment project is terminated according to regulations, the investor is allowed to transfer land use rights and sell legal assets attached to the land to other investors according to the provisions of law.

Enterprises believe that most of the projects that are behind schedule have created a large amount of assets on land that have been implemented by investors, and some land plots have been paid in one go for lease terms, so they are not eligible for auction of land use rights according to the provisions of Article 119 of the 2013 Land Law. On the other hand, Clause 3, Article 5 of the 2014 Enterprise Law stipulates that assets and legal investment capital of enterprises and investors owning enterprises shall not be nationalized or confiscated by administrative measures.

photo-1.-project-slow-progress.jpg — *A corner of a slow-progressing project in Ha Tinh*

Mr. Nguyen Giang Nam - Director of Nhu Hoang LLC hopes that the Land Law (amended) will soon be passed by the 15th National Assembly at this session, and there will be regulations on assets created by investors, land use fees, and land rents paid once for the entire lease term, which will be auctioned and refunded to investors whose land is revoked due to slow project progress. This plan aims to facilitate the handling of slow-progressing projects, and limit complaints and lawsuits related to the revocation of slow-progressing projects.

In addition to the above content, the Law with many adjusted and innovated contents is expected by enterprises to contribute to resolving difficulties and problems arising from the practice of land use by enterprises, thereby improving the effectiveness and efficiency, contributing to unblocking and removing bottlenecks in the implementation of investment projects due to entanglement in mechanisms and policies on land law, ensuring legitimate rights and interests.

Source