Clarifying criteria for land recovery to implement socio-economic development projects for national and public interests

Speaking at the meeting, Delegate Le Huu Tri - Delegation of National Assembly Deputies of Khanh Hoa province said that although the draft Law has tried to specifically identify the list of projects for which the State will reclaim land for socio -economic development, for national and public interests, for defense and security purposes. However, the draft Law cannot list all the projects that will arise in the future, therefore, the Delegate suggested that the drafting agency should design another mechanism to handle the actual occurrence of projects that are necessary for socio -economic development, for national and public interests but are not included in the list of projects recorded in the Law.

Delegate Le Huu Tri - National Assembly Delegation of Khanh Hoa province

The delegate said that because the 2013 Land Law has not clearly defined the list of projects for which the State recovers land for socio-economic development, for national and public interests, it has led to many cases of abuse of the State's land recovery for socio-economic development to recover land from land users, but in fact the projects are not entirely for socio-economic development, for national and public interests, but for the profit goals of investors and enterprises.

“This causes frustration for land users and gives rise to many lengthy and complicated lawsuits. Therefore, the draft Law needs to clearly stipulate that projects in which the State reclaims land for socio-economic development must be for the public national interest or for national defense and security purposes, but must ensure that they are truly necessary and not for profit purposes,” the delegate emphasized.

Delegate Le Huu Tri also noted that for projects that have both socio-economic development goals and national and public interests but also have profit goals for investors, it is necessary to clearly define which cases the State will reclaim land and which cases the investor will negotiate with the land user. In cases where the investor negotiates with the land user, it is also necessary to stipulate the remaining land area of the project that the investor cannot negotiate with the land user. At the same time, it is necessary to have a mechanism to adjust the difference in land rent for land users to ensure fairness in terms of the interests of the State, investors and those whose land is reclaimed.

Delegate Le Huu Tri suggested that it is necessary to have more specific and clear regulations on the authority, purpose and scope of land recovery, specific conditions and criteria for the State to recover land for socio-economic development for national and public interests, as well as the mechanism for self-negotiation between enterprises and land users in transferring land use rights to implement projects to build urban areas and commercial housing in accordance with the spirit of Resolution No. 18-NQ/TW.

Sharing this view, Delegate Nguyen Huu Thong - National Assembly Delegation of Binh Thuan proposed to supplement the explanation of the term "socio-economic development project for national and public interests" because current law has not yet clearly defined this concept, and has not yet established a specific criteria system to determine what is a socio-economic development project for national and public interests.

This not only causes confusion and difficulty for enforcement agencies in applying the law on land recovery, but also creates loopholes for illegal land recovery. Land recovery is ineffective and causes damage to the legitimate rights and interests of land users.

Representative Nguyen Huu Thong Doan, Binh Thuan Province.jpg — Delegate Nguyen Huu Thong - National Assembly Delegation of Binh Thuan

Therefore, the Delegate proposed that socio-economic development projects for national and public interests must meet three specific criteria: First, they must bring common benefits to the people of a commune, a district, a province or a region; Second, they must be invested in by the state budget or invested in the form of public-private partnership; Third, they must be implemented for public purposes.

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