Ha Long: Difficulties in collecting land use fees.

In 2024, the Provincial People's Committee assigned Ha Long City to collect 4,687 billion VND in land use fees, a revenue source accounting for nearly 50% of the city's total budget revenue. However, as of October 15th, the city's revenue from land use fees had only reached nearly 800 billion VND (17% of the plan and 77% compared to the same period in 2023) - a very low figure compared to the assigned target.

Leaders of Ha Long City are working with Vingroup to find solutions to overcome difficulties for the Ha Long Green Complex Urban Area project.

The main reason for the low land use fee revenue in Ha Long City is directly related to the revenue from the Ha Long Green Complex Urban Area project by Vingroup. To comply with regulations, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment hired a consulting firm to determine land prices. This firm collected documents, conducted surveys, and carried out the valuation process. However, on August 26, 2024, the consulting firm submitted a report requesting the refusal, termination, and liquidation of the land valuation contract, resulting in the project not meeting the land valuation deadline in 2024. The city also worked with several businesses, and some agreed to temporarily pay land use fees into the budget. However, the temporary payment mechanism faces obstacles because the Provincial People's Committee has not yet approved specific land prices, making temporary payments inconsistent with current regulations. The aforementioned obstacles resulted in the city losing 2,167 billion VND in land use fees from the project (accounting for over 40% of the city's total land use fee revenue).

Furthermore, changes in mechanisms and policies, as well as the lack of a detailed zoning plan, have also affected the city's land use fee collection. Specifically, from August 1, 2024, the determination of specific land prices for calculating land use fees is carried out according to the 2024 Land Law. However, the Provincial People's Committee has not yet promptly issued new regulations and guidelines in accordance with the 2024 Land Law, so the city has not been able to collect land use fees from the people. For auction projects, the city has to wait for the detailed zoning plan to implement subsequent investment procedures, leading to a large amount of remaining work (investment policy, starting price, auction organization, land leasing for small plots, etc.), while many procedures depend on the time required for appraisal and approval by departments, agencies, and the Provincial People's Committee.

For projects where land has already been allocated, the land price scheme must comply with Government Decree No. 71/2024/ND-CP (dated June 27, 2024) on land prices. However, the Provincial People's Committee has not yet issued specific regulations on indicators to determine land prices using the surplus method (sales rate, occupancy rate, etc.), leading to consulting units having to spend a lot of time collecting and evaluating data.

Regarding the collection of land use fees for projects, in August 2024, the city held meetings with project owners to urge debt recovery. However, many projects still face unresolved issues.

Ha Khau Ward provides guidance on procedures for initial registration and issuance of land use right certificates - land use purpose conversion, and allocation of land interspersed within residential areas in the ward. Photo: Tran Thanh - Contributor.

Faced with a series of difficulties, Ha Long City is resolutely implementing various solutions to partially compensate for the revenue shortfall, such as: closely monitoring the progress of auction projects with high revenue potential; closely following up with central ministries and agencies and provincial authorities regarding investment policies and submissions to ensure progress according to the set plan. For projects where land has already been allocated, the city continues to coordinate with the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to expedite the process of determining land prices for projects as directed by the People's Committee; promptly providing relevant documents as requested by the Department to support land valuation. At the same time, it continues to implement enforcement measures against investors who still owe land fees in the city. The city issued its third (final) notice requiring households owing land use fees to pay into the state budget. In case of non-payment, the City People's Committee will issue a decision to revoke the land allocation decision, aiming to collect at least 1,000 billion VND in land use fees from the people in 2024.

Mr. Le Huu Nghia, Head of the City's Finance and Planning Department, stated: "The above solutions will help the city collect an additional approximately 1,700 billion VND, bringing the total land use fee revenue for the year to over 2,500 billion VND (equal to 54% of the plan), thus still resulting in a shortfall of over 2,100 billion VND. This means that if the difficulties and obstacles of the Ha Long Green Complex Urban Area Project are not resolved by the relevant departments, agencies, and the province, Ha Long City will find it difficult to achieve the assigned land use fee collection target. This will directly affect the city's budget revenue in 2024."

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