Dong Anh district has achieved over 70% in reclaiming and converting rice cultivation land to other uses.

Before working with the District People's Committee, the delegation conducted on-site inspections at the new urban area project in Xuan Canh, Dong Hoi, and Mai Lam communes, Dong Anh district.

Informing the inspection team, Vice Chairman of the Dong Anh District People's Committee Hoang Hai Dang said that the district has focused on decisively directing the implementation of projects and works involving land-use conversion in the district, especially key projects of the Central Government and the City.

As a result, from the beginning of 2021 to April 2024, the total number of land acquisition and land-use conversion projects for rice cultivation in the area was 258 projects with an area of 985.12 hectares. Land acquisition and land use conversion have been completed for 695.24 hectares, reaching 70.57%.

For projects included in the 6 resolutions of the City People's Council, from 2021 to April 2024, there were 251 projects in the district with a total area of 489.12 hectares of rice land approved by the City People's Council for conversion to other uses. To date, land acquisition and conversion have been completed for an area of 199.25 hectares, reaching a rate of 40.74%. Of this, the conversion has been completed for 64 rice land projects with an area of 104.46 hectares.

Every year, the District People's Committee conducts an assessment of the implementation of the previous year's land use plan, based on indicators such as the quantity and area of projects that have implemented the conversion of rice land use, out of the total number of projects approved for rice land conversion in the annual land use plan.

Members of the Supervisory Delegation speak at the working session.

Furthermore, the District People's Committee organized land inspection teams to ensure the serious and strict implementation of land use conversion plans for rice fields in accordance with the law. At the same time, the District People's Committee assigned the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to regularly work with and urge investors and the People's Committees of communes and towns to focus on implementing the resolutions of the City People's Council and the land use plan of the City People's Committee.

To improve this work in the future, the People's Committee of Dong Anh District requests the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to coordinate with the Department of Finance and relevant units to promptly issue guidelines to the People's Committees of districts and communes on the process, procedures, and implementation of the delegated content according to Decision No. 2681/QD-UBND dated May 22, 2024, of the People's Committee of Hanoi City, in order to accelerate the progress of projects in the district.

We propose that the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City request the Government to promptly issue a document amending Decree 08/2022/ND-CP detailing some provisions of the Law on Environmental Protection. This includes regulations on decentralization and delegation of authority to district-level agencies in environmental impact assessment and environmental permitting for projects using rice paddy land. We also request that the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City promptly issue a decision on the first phase of land allocation for the smart city project in the district.

Members of the monitoring team exchanged views during the working session.

During the working session, members of the supervisory delegation expressed their interest in, exchanged views with, and requested the Dong Anh District People's Committee to clarify the reasons for the prolonged delays in the projects. They also requested clarification on the results of supervision, inspection, and auditing, as well as proposed solutions; a thorough assessment of the organizational capacity of the grassroots level in this area; public awareness campaigns regarding the conversion of rice land use; the results of publicly disclosing land use conversion information; and the difficulties and obstacles encountered in implementing the plan for converting rice land use.

Concluding the working session, the Head of the Economic and Budget Committee of the Hanoi People's Council, Ho Van Nga, highly appreciated Dong Anh district's attention to and implementation of this field in accordance with the law. Specifically, the district has done well in proposing the list of areas for converting rice land; proactively reviewing local areas and reporting to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment for submission to the Hanoi People's Committee, serving the district's conversion needs.

Agreeing with some of the district's shortcomings, the Head of the Monitoring Team stated that, despite positive efforts, the rate of land conversion from rice cultivation in the district from 2021 to the present has not been high due to many objective reasons, including incomplete guidance from the State's policies and regulations, as well as some subjective reasons on the part of the locality.

Based on that reality, the Head of the Economic and Budget Committee of the Hanoi City People's Council requested Dong Anh district to submit a supplementary report, emphasizing the causes of difficulties and reasons for the incompleteness of each project, so that after the monitoring, the Committee will have a basis to synthesize, urge, and report to the competent authorities to resolve the obstacles.

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