Strengthening the management and use of public land

Land management and use in recent years have been gradually implemented effectively, promoting production and business development, contributing to the country's socio -economic development. However, reality also shows that waste and violations in the management and use of public land are still increasing, significantly affecting the work of practicing thrift and fighting waste as proposed by the Party and Government.

The 2024 Land Law will contribute to improving the effectiveness and efficiency in the management and use of public land. (Photo: TUE NGHI)

The 2024 Land Law, effective from August 1, 2024, with many new amendments and supplements, including regulations on management and use of public land by public service units and state-owned enterprises.

Waste and violations in land use

The policies and laws of our Party and State on land have clearly affirmed that land belongs to the entire people, with the State as the representative owner and unified manager. In recent years, to serve the country's socio-economic development, many areas of land have been assigned to public service units and state-owned enterprises to implement programs and projects. However, many localities, after reclaiming land and assigning it to units and enterprises for use and lease, have not implemented it, causing waste or violations in land use.

Dr. Tran Cong Phan, member of the 15th National Assembly, Permanent Vice President, General Secretary of the Vietnam Lawyers Association, commented: The enforcement of discipline and order in the management and use of public land and the efficiency of exploitation are not high, there are still many shortcomings, greatly affecting the practice of thrift and anti-waste in the recent period. The monitoring result No. 330/BC-ÐGS dated October 11, 2022 of the 15th National Assembly's Thematic Monitoring Delegation said that the Government Inspectorate reported that in the 2016-2021 period, the whole country discovered violations of 63,200 hectares of land, and recommended the recovery of 31,287 hectares of land.

The reason for the above situation is, first of all, that the units have not paid attention to and paid attention to properly implementing the provisions of the Land Law, the Investment Law and many legal documents related to the work of preventing and combating waste and using public land. In particular, the management and use of land during and after the equitization of state-owned enterprises still has many shortcomings.

Specifically, before equitization, in many cases, land use plans were not developed or plans were built and approved that were not consistent with the housing and land arrangement and land use planning; information related to land was not transparently disclosed. After equitization, land was used for the wrong purpose, left fallow, disputed, or encroached upon; legal procedures were slow to be completed; land was allocated, leased, and land use purpose was changed without auction; and the purpose was changed inconsistently with the planning.

Experts and land managers say that the illegal transfer of public land continues to occur, despite the fact that the law has many strict regulations related to the management and use of public assets, especially regulations on the management, exploitation and use of public land. Notably, in recent years, through inspection and examination, the authorities have discovered many public lands that have been illegally transferred, turning public land into private land.

A typical example is the case of violating regulations on land management that occurred at Saigon Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Corporation ( Sabeco ). Meanwhile, the situation of headquarters and public land being abandoned or used for the wrong purpose, causing waste, is happening quite commonly in many localities, especially in big cities with a lot of public land and state agencies and units located in the area such as: Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong, Da Nang, Can Tho...

Worryingly, some organizations and individuals have taken advantage of this situation to illegally encroach on public land for various purposes such as parking lots, material storage areas, and food service businesses; many agency headquarters are not fully utilized and are being rented out to businesses, restaurants, or other services.

In addition, site clearance work in many places still faces difficulties and shortcomings; the handling of projects that are behind schedule and lacking in determination and violations in land allocation work is still common; the awareness of law compliance among land users is still not serious, especially some sanctions for violations are not strong enough to deter.

Ensuring consistency in management

According to Deputy Director of the Department of Land (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment) Le Van Binh, besides the achieved results, the regulations in the 2013 Land Law gradually revealed many limitations such as: Land use planning has not ensured synchronization, comprehensiveness, system, low quality, lack of long-term vision; land resources have not been fully and sustainably exploited, promoted...

Faced with the above reality, the 2024 Land Law, consisting of 16 chapters and 260 articles, has been promulgated to perfect the system of land policies and laws in a synchronous and unified manner, consistent with the institution of developing a socialist-oriented market economy.

In particular, the 2024 Land Law has clarified the responsibilities of state agencies in exercising the right to represent land ownership; decentralizing authority associated with control and supervision of implementation, ensuring unified management from the central to local levels; adding the principle of publicity and transparency when determining land prices...

The above contents are considered an important premise to improve the effectiveness of combating waste and violations in the use of public land; at the same time, helping competent authorities have a full legal basis to implement policies and laws on land management in general, and management in the use of public land in particular in our country in the coming time.

Associate Professor, Dr. Le Hong Hanh (Vietnam Lawyers Association) shared that the 2024 Land Law with many new amendments and supplements, including amendments and supplements to regulations on management and use of public land by public service units and state-owned enterprises in particular, will certainly contribute to improving the effectiveness and efficiency of land management and use, and combating waste and violations in the use of public land in this area.

However, the 2024 Land Law is related to public assets, along with the 2017 Law on Management and Use of Public Assets. In the 2017 Law on Management and Use of Public Assets, public assets are defined to include many assets, including land. Therefore, state management agencies need to clarify the content of public land and public assets between the 2024 Land Law and the 2017 Law on Management and Use of Public Assets, there are still some problems that need to be identified and overcome.

Dr. Nguyen Van Quyen, President of the Vietnam Lawyers Association, hopes that the National Assembly will continue to strengthen supervision of contents related to the implementation of policies and laws on management and handling of suspended projects, violations of land and investment laws, especially public land areas; the Government and the Prime Minister will direct ministries, branches and localities to promptly complete the review, statistics and synthesis of complete information, data and lists of projects violating land laws, thereby having solutions to handle and overcome losses and waste in land management and use.

In particular, it is necessary to fully synthesize violations related to land management and use, land handling and recovery to soon put land into use, promote efficiency, avoid loss and waste, and contribute to economic development.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, ministries, branches and localities continue to improve mechanisms, policies and regulations related to land management and use, including proposing to raise administrative penalties to a higher level to limit violations in land management and use; strengthen land management, exploitation and use; enhance the role, responsibility and awareness of compliance with land laws of a number of cadres and civil servants; promptly overcome shortcomings and limitations in land management, exploitation and use, ensuring economical, effective and sustainable exploitation, reducing loss and waste of resources and state resources.

At the same time, strictly handle the responsibilities of organizations and individuals who allow violations and wrongdoings regarding land; are slow to implement inspection recommendations, and fail to promptly recover State capital and assets.

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