Transparency, adequacy and harmony in land valuation

“Virtual price or not, local know best”

Regarding the issue of land valuation, which is considered the core issue and also the most difficult issue in the Land Law, Mr. Khanh said the draft law has been absorbed and adjusted to stipulate that the land valuation must ensure the principle: the land valuation method follows the market principle. Besides, the additional draft stipulates the content of four land valuation methods, including direct comparison, deduction, income and land price adjustment coefficient as a basis for assigning the Government to detail regulations.

Compared with the current law, the draft does not prescribe the residual method in land valuation methods. The reason is that this method is calculated based on assumed input information, leading to inconsistent application in practice, creating many difficulties in implementation.

However, in the verification report, Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic Committee (NA) Vu Hong Thanh said that the National Assembly Economic Committee thinks that the draft regulations are not really clear; Not yet fully institutionalized Resolution No. 18 of the XNUMXth Central Committee on continuing to innovate land policy, which requires that the financial policy on land must harmonize the interests of the state, land users and investors.

The proposal to clearly define the principles and methods of land valuation right in the draft law is also the opinion of NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue when giving his opinion in the morning group on 9.6. According to the President of the National Assembly, in the Land law, the most difficult thing is land finance, of which the most difficult is land price, so the drafting of general regulations and assigning the Government to detail the decree "it is difficult for the National Assembly to discuss and not assured to pass".

Nguyen Xuan Thang, Chairman of the Central Theoretical Council, Director of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, said that the draft stipulates "land pricing according to market principles", but that is not enough because "we are a socialist-oriented market". He suggested that depending on each specific type of land, there should be a scientific and transparent pricing mechanism, as well as an adjustment coefficient for land valuation in line with reality. This adjustment coefficient must meet the criteria of stability, avoiding one price today, another valuation the next day, making enterprises (DN) not feel secure to invest.

Explaining from the perspective of the drafting agency, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Dang Quoc Khanh said that regarding land prices, the draft law has greatly decentralized to localities when assigning the People's Committee to submit to the People's Council to issue an annual land price list to ensure access to the market, implemented from January 1.1.2026, XNUMX. "Having a virtual price or not, the locality is the one who understands the most," Mr. Khanh said. However, the drafting agency is also studying to add a mechanism that can adjust when land prices spike.

The most important thing is to be compensated properly

Land acquisition, especially land acquisition for socio-economic development for national and public benefits, is also a matter of concern and discussion among many delegates. Compared with the previous draft law, the regulations on land acquisition for socio-economic development in this draft have had a big change. Specifically, the draft law expands, lists 31 cases of land recovery in 3 groups: land acquisition for construction of public works; recover land for construction of state offices and non-business works; recover land for socio-economic development for national and other public benefits.

Representative Tran Thi Hong Thanh (Ninh Binh delegation) said basically agree with the plan of the drafting agency. However, Ms. Thanh wondered when the content of "socio-economic development for national and public interests" had not been clarified.

Meanwhile, Representative Truong Trong Nghia (from Ho Chi Minh City delegation) said that the inspection report of the Economic Committee was very "observant" when it pointed out that in the draft regulation on cases of land acquisition for socio-economic development for the sake of the national and public interests, commercial housing projects and urban areas were not found, but it referred to Article 112 that stipulates that this is the land fund created by the state auction. In the verification report, the Chairman of the Economic Committee said that the draft law on the above provisions is unclear in content, contradictory in approach compared to other cases. Since then, the Economic Committee proposed to review so as not to refer to the provisions in other articles and clauses but have specific and clear provisions right in the draft law.

Mr. Vu Hong Thanh affirmed that in cases of land acquisition for socio-economic development, in the national and public interest, the Economic Committee agreed with cases where the State recovers land to regulate the difference in added value from land due to changes in planning, infrastructure investment, harmonization of interests between the State - people - investors and cases of land recovery to ensure the conditions for land use investment projects.

Representative Truong Trong Nghia also wondered about the fact that many projects for socio-economic development are not or are not directly for national and public interests but for commercial purposes. “Trade is fine, but Resolution 18 stipulates the principle that if the project is for commercial purposes, it must be negotiated. Over the past decades, how many complaints and pressing stories have been related to this land recovery story," Nghia stated.

According to Chairman of the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City Phan Van Mai, economic and commercial purposes also contribute to national interests, should not understand that he is doing economics and commerce, he goes to negotiate and do whatever he wants. "It is important that adequate compensation, adequate support and resettlement policies, people also benefit from that future project," said Mr. Mai, emphasizing the most important thing is the direct policy of people with land use rights.

Meanwhile, NE Hoang Quoc Khanh (Lai Chau delegation) wondered about the problems of the self-negotiation mechanism for socio-economic development projects being implemented under the current 2013 Land Law. According to Mr. Khanh, the most difficult problem in the agreement between people and businesses is "what is the price". “There are projects that investors charge very low prices, people suffer. On the contrary, there are projects that people do not bear the price offered by enterprises, comparing this province, another province to ask for a higher price, there are households with an agreed price of only 800-900 million VND but demanding up to 3 billion VND. Agreed forever, they refused to prolong the project, "said Mr. Khanh. He also cited an example in Lai Chau, there was a hydroelectric project with a total capital of up to 200-300 billion VND but had problems when agreeing only because one household did not agree.

Do not arbitrarily adjust the planning

Regarding land use planning and plans, when giving opinions to discuss at the group, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that this is also an issue that needs to clearly define authority, decentralization and decentralization to reduce administrative procedures. “Land planning both solves immediate problems and has a long-term vision for sustainable and long-term development. Currently, we see that land is a constant that cannot be generated, must be used and exploited effectively, including space in the sky, ground and underground space, and then related to marine space, "said the Prime Minister.

According to the Prime Minister, the amendment of the Land Law must "stick to reality, take practice as a measure", but cannot require a single revision to cover all problems from practice. The principle of amending the law tries to solve the problems and inadequacies that are being handled in the process of exploiting and using land resources. The Prime Minister also said that decentralization and decentralization are very entangled. "For example, 10 hectares of rice and 20 hectares of forest must go up to the Prime Minister, going through many steps takes a lot of time, wasting resources and opportunities," the Prime Minister stated.

Regarding resettlement areas, the Prime Minister emphasized that this is a matter of great concern to the people. “The Party's position is very clear, when recovering land for resettlement, people who give up land after a process of cultivation, exploitation and use must move to another place must ensure that it is at least equal to or better than the old place of residence. It is necessary to concretize and quantify what criteria are equal or better, "said the Prime Minister.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue emphasized that it is necessary to regulate how to get opinions on planning and land use plans for the substance, to avoid taking for granted, the form. The National Assembly Chairperson cited the provisions in the draft that did not specify what percentage of the people who were consulted would allow the government to approve the planning. On the other hand, the draft law does not stipulate how to handle people who do not agree.

Similarly, with the regulations on reviewing and adjusting planning, the NA Chairwoman said that this is a problem with many negatives and has been dealt with a lot in the past time, so "if it is not carefully regulated, it is difficult to operate but it is difficult to know if it is right or wrong". Leading the situation that enterprises investing in agricultural production are very afraid of the "sudden" adjustment of the planning, the National Assembly Chairwoman said and said that strict regulations must be followed to avoid mistakes and lawsuits.