Perfecting policies for handling

Handling of unimplemented or delayed projects

According to the Department of Land ( Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment ), through statistics, land inventory and summary of the implementation of the 2013 Land Law, it shows that there are still many investment projects that have been allocated land or leased land by the State but have not put the land into use, have been slow to put the land into use; the work of inspection, urging, supervision and handling of projects that are slow to implement, have not put the land into use in the locality has not been focused on, is still limited and ineffective; sanctions for violations are still weak, not enough to deter; solutions and measures for handling violations are still ineffective... causing waste of land resources.

To urge and direct the handling of projects that do not put land into use, are slow to put land into use, causing waste of land, in 2018, the Prime Minister issued Directive 01/CT-TTg dated January 3, 2018 on "Regulating and strengthening land management and building a land information system"; based on reports from 60/63 provinces and centrally run cities: The results have reviewed and counted 3,424 projects and works with a total area of 151,321.72 hectares of land that have been allocated, leased, approved for project investment policy but not used or are slow to put land into use. In which, the classification: Projects and works with decisions on land allocation and lease are 2,333 projects, with a total area of 105,046.70 hectares; Projects and works that have been notified of land recovery but have not been implemented are 381 projects, with a total area of 38,501.52 hectares; Projects and works that have terminated investment projects or investment policies are 710 projects, with a total area of 7,773.50 hectares.

In 2024, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will strengthen its direction, establish inspection teams, review, resolve, and remove difficulties and obstacles related to projects that are slow to put land into use or do not put land into use nationwide.

Then, in 2021, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment issued Official Dispatch No. 7352/BTNMT-TCĐĐ requesting localities to review and report data on slow-moving projects with unresolved problems. The results showed that nationwide, there were more than 1,250 projects that did not put land into use or were slow to put land into use (with unresolved problems).

Explaining the cause of this situation, the Land Department said that it was due to the weak capacity of investors (not enough financial capacity and other resources to implement the project); the purpose of investors is to request projects to occupy land for speculation, waiting for price increases, transferring projects (using the excuse of requesting planning adjustments, adjusting projects many times, leading to prolonging the project implementation progress). The compliance with land law, investment law, construction law and other related laws has not been complete and timely, there are still violations; there has not been active coordination to remove obstacles in site clearance work. Many projects are still entangled in disputes and complaints that have not been resolved completely.

On the part of local State management agencies, the appraisal, approval and adjustment of investment projects are not strict, leading to the allocation and lease of land to investors who do not have the capacity to implement the project or for the purpose of requesting a project to occupy land for speculation, waiting for price increase, or transferring the project. During the handling process, they allow to adjust the planning and adjust the progress of investment projects many times (implemented according to the Investment Law, Construction Law...) so that investors can avoid and prolong the violation of slow progress in land use.

In particular, there has been a lack of timely and decisive review, inspection, and handling of projects with violations regarding slow progress in land use (many projects have been inspected and conclusions issued since 2018 and 2019, but to date there has been no final decision on handling.

Regarding legal policies, the Department of Land believes that the provisions of the law on investment, land, construction... are still overlapping and inadequate, causing difficulties in implementing investment projects. The provisions on adjusting, extending investment projects, terminating investment projects according to the Investment Law and the provisions on handling projects that do not put land into use or are slow to put land into use according to the Land Law still have unclear, inconsistent points, leading to difficulties in handling.

In addition, the implementation of regulations on planning adjustment, construction investment project appraisal, construction licensing... in many localities has not yet complied with regulations, resulting in many complicated procedures, leading to prolonged construction investment time.

Perfecting policies to handle and resolve

To resolve this situation, the Department of Land said that in the coming time, it will complete legal policies, focusing on amending and supplementing the provisions of the Land Law on handling projects that do not put land into use or are slow to put land into use to ensure consistency between the Laws on Construction, Investment, and Land.

In addition, develop a Government Decree detailing the handling of projects that do not put land into use, are slow to put land into use, and have their investment terminated to ensure that problems are basically resolved.

By early 2022, the whole country had 908 projects and works that had not put land into use or were slow to put land into use (still unresolved problems), with an area of 28,155 hectares, of which 172/908 projects had land recovered and project activities had been terminated, with an area of 6,922 hectares; 226/908 projects had land use extensions, with an area of 1,719 hectares; 106/908 projects were being processed, with an area of 1,206 hectares; 404/908 projects had not been processed, with an area of 18,308 hectares.

The Department also said that in 2024, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will strengthen its direction, establish inspection teams, review, resolve, and remove difficulties and obstacles related to projects that are slow to put land into use or not put land into use nationwide to free up land resources for socio-economic recovery and development.

In addition, direct and urge localities to strengthen inspection, review, resolve and remove difficulties and obstacles related to projects that are slow to put land into use, not put land into use in the locality, especially projects that have been allocated land or leased land according to the 2003 Land Law but are still slow in using land or not put land into use.

Source