Amending the Land Law, unlocking resources

The State will take over land for projects where investors have less than 25% of the land area or less than 25% of the number of land users have not reached an agreement to implement socio -economic development projects...

This is one of two additional cases in which the State takes over land, compared to the 32 cases stipulated in the 2024 Land Law, according to the draft amendment to the 2024 Land Law that is being submitted to local authorities for comments in order to meet the progress for the Government to submit to the National Assembly at the upcoming 10th session.

Mr. Dao Trung Chinh - Director of the Department of Land Management, Ministry of Agriculture and Environment - affirmed this when talking to Tuoi Tre about some new points in the draft amendment of the 2024 Land Law.

Mr. Chinh said: "In reality, many projects have reached agreements with the majority of land users and land areas within the project scope, but only a small part cannot be negotiated, leading to the situation of "suspended projects", wasting land resources, prolonging progress, causing difficulties for investors".

* The 2024 Land Law has not been in effect for long, why is it necessary to amend and supplement it, sir?

- Land is a special national resource, an important resource for national development; any change in land policy has a profound impact on economic and social life.

The practical implementation of the 2024 Land Law and its guiding documents in recent times has shown certain effectiveness, promptly removing many obstacles in land management and use.

However, it needs to be further reviewed and improved to ensure convenient and transparent access to land, meeting the requirements for implementing socio-economic development projects. Therefore, amending and supplementing the Land Law at this time is extremely necessary, in order to create a strong driving force for realizing the country's development goals in the new period.

The amendment and supplementation of the Land Law also aims to ensure the review and completion of the system of legal documents affected by the process of restructuring the state apparatus, ensuring completion before March 1, 2027 as required in Resolution No. 190 of the National Assembly.

* Recently, many localities and businesses have reported that the implementation of the 2024 Land Law still has many problems. Will these issues be adjusted promptly?

- In addition to reviewing and drafting the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Land Law and organizing written consultations with ministries, branches and localities, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment is also organizing conferences to directly consult with localities to receive comprehensive and practical comments.

Along with that, working delegations of the ministry were sent to work in many provinces and cities to guide and remove obstacles in the process of implementing the two-level local government model.

This is also an opportunity to record and summarize the difficulties and shortcomings in land management and use when applying the new organizational model, thereby promptly researching and perfecting the provisions of the draft law, ensuring feasibility and conformity with practical requirements before reporting to the Government for consideration and submission to the National Assembly.

* Many experts and businesses believe that collecting additional land fees for the time not yet calculated for land use fees and land rent is unreasonable. Will this issue be included in the draft Land Law?

- The content related to the removal of regulations on collecting land use fees and additional land rent for uncounted time is still under discussion and widely consulted.

Recently, in some localities, this additional payment has significantly increased the financial obligations of land users. The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has promptly taken note and closely coordinated with the Ministry of Finance to review and comprehensively assess the issue.

According to the provisions of Article 257 of the Land Law, the Government is assigned to specify in detail the amount of money that land users must pay additionally for the period of time not yet calculated for land use fees and land rent.

However, during the application process, it is necessary to clearly consider the cause of non-payment, whether it is due to the fault of the land user or the responsibility of the state agency, in order to have a reasonable and harmonious handling plan, both ensuring the legitimate rights of people and businesses and preventing budget losses.

Regarding this issue, the Ministry of Finance is also presiding over the research and proposal of appropriate adjustments to this content in the process of amending and supplementing Decree No. 103/2024/ND-CP dated July 30, 2024 of the Government regulating land use fees and land rents, ensuring consistency with the direction of amending and supplementing the Land Law.

* The draft also added many new regulations such as the national land information system, rice land conversion, encouraging businesses to encroach on the sea..., why, sir?

- This draft law adds many new strategic regulations, aiming to maximize land potential, promote innovation and sustainable growth.

First of all, the establishment of a national land information system will have synchronous investment from the central and local budgets, while encouraging socialization to create a unified, transparent, and easily accessible data platform.

This is an important tool to help the State manage effectively, reduce compliance costs for businesses, support investors in accessing information quickly and accurately, thereby improving the competitiveness of the economy.

In addition, the draft also completes the mechanism for converting rice land in a flexible manner, in accordance with planning and development needs, ensuring a balance between food security and the requirements for industrial, service and infrastructure development. This regulation will help mobilize land funds for key projects, creating new development space for localities.

In addition, encouraging businesses to invest in reclaiming land from the sea is concretized, associated with the requirements of environmental protection and sustainable development, which will open up great space to expand the space for urban development, industrial parks, tourism, and services in coastal localities, while contributing to affirming national sovereignty and interests at sea.

All of these new regulations, when implemented synchronously, will contribute to unlocking land resources, strongly attracting domestic and foreign investment, creating jobs, increasing budget revenue and promoting rapid and sustainable socio-economic development.