Economic development project

BTO-On the morning of June 21, continuing the working program of the 5th session, the 15th National Assembly held a plenary session at the Hall to discuss the draft Law on Land (amended). Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai chaired the meeting.

*Deputy Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation Nguyen Huu Thong spoke on the morning of June 21.*

Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation Nguyen Huu Thong highly appreciated the careful and elaborate preparation of the drafting agency and the reviewing agency for the draft Land Law (amended). Giving specific comments in Article 3, the delegate suggested adding an explanation of the term " Socio -economic development project for national and public interests". Explaining, the delegate said that the current law does not have regulations and clearly explains the concept of socio -economic development project for national and public interests; has not yet developed a specific criteria system to determine what is a socio -economic development project for national and public interests. This has caused confusion and difficulties for enforcement agencies in applying the law on land recovery and created loopholes for a number of officials and civil servants to take advantage of land recovery in violation of regulations, ineffective land recovery, causing damage to the legitimate rights and interests of land users.

Therefore, according to the delegate, a socio-economic development project for national and public interests must meet three specific criteria: It must bring common benefits to the people of a commune, a district, a province or a region; It must be invested in by the state budget or invested in the public-private partnership; The purpose of the project is for public purposes.

Regarding the content in Chapter XI, Regulations on finance, land, land prices, delegates proposed to add provisions on "Vacant land tax". The draft Law does not change much compared to the current Law, only adding a new revenue item which is land use fee in case of multi-purpose land use. Comparing the viewpoints and objectives of Resolution No. 18, the draft has not yet satisfactorily resolved two issues: first, land use tax has not been specifically regulated, does not reflect new points, and does not meet the requirements of higher tax rates for people using large areas of land, many houses, speculating on land, slow land use, and abandoning land; second, the revenue items are aimed at effectively regulating land rent differences, especially the added value not invested by land users.

Delegates suggested that the Draft Land Law (amended) should add provisions on vacant land tax - this is a tool to combat speculation, promote land exploitation for investment and production of material wealth. This type of tax contributes to effectively handling the phenomenon of speculation on agricultural land for subdivision and sale, and the situation of occupying production and business land in prime locations for profit. This type of tax has brought about many practical effects in a number of countries.

In addition, delegate Nguyen Huu Thong proposed to add “Basis for developing the Land Price List” in Article 159. The delegate said that it is necessary to add the basis of local socio-economic development indicators such as: Growth rate, local land use structure, GDP per capita, poverty rate according to multidimensional standards... These indicators are necessary bases to demonstrate the characteristics of the locality, the feasibility and effectiveness of the land price list when applied in practice...

The Land Law Project (amended) is one of 10 Law projects that the National Assembly commented on at its 5th session. Immediately after the National Assembly discussed, the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment will explain and clarify a number of issues raised by National Assembly deputies.

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