Nov 11, 2012

Vietnam - Party Central Committee's Resolution on land policies renovation

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VietNamNet Bridge – Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has signed the Resolution 19-NQ/TW on continuing renovation of land policies in a bid to create background for Viet Nam to become a basically modern-oriented industrial country by 2020.

The following is the full text of the resolution for reference:

I – SITUATION AND REASONS

After 10-year implementation of the Resolution approved at the 7 th plenary meeting of the 9 th Party Central Committee on continuing renovation of land policies in the time of boosting modernization and industrialization, numerous achievements have been obtained, contributing to effective exploitation and promotion of land resources to serve socio-economic development, ensure national defense and security, social stability, food security and environmental protection etc. The effectiveness of State management over land has gradually enhanced; land policies have been increasingly improved; rights of land users have been expanded and secured by the State; real estate market, including land use right has been shaping and developing quickly. Such achievements prove that the guiding viewpoints and orientations for land policies enshrined in the Resolution of the 7 th meeting of the 9 th Party Central Committee are basically right and relevant to the country’s realities and socio-economic development plight.

However, State management over land still remains limited, particularly in land use planning, land pricing, compensation, site clearance, assistance for resettlement, administrative procedures. The interests of the State and individuals whose land is recovered have not been safeguarded effectively; land resources have not been fully tapped to become a key inner force for socio-economic development; land has been used wastefully and ineffectively in many places; corruption and wrongdoings in this field are rampant; the real estate market has not been developing stably and unhealthily, “underground” transactions are widespread; complaints and denunciations concerning land disputes have been complicated.

The main reasons for the above shortcomings are due to the fact that land has various sources; land policies changed over (development) stages; the current land-related policies still contain unclear and inappropriate contents; institutionalization has been carried out slowly and uncomprehensively. Land policies and relevant regulations have not been strictly observed. Dissemination and education on land policies have not been effective; land management transparency has not been well done. The sense of observing land policies of a number of cadres and citizens has proved limited. Inspection, examination, supervision and settlement of violations have not been seriously carried out.

The effectiveness of settling complaints and denunciations is low. Organizational structure and capacity of land management cadres and relevant bodies have proved limited; a number of cadres have abused their power to get illegal profits and harass for bribes.

II- GUIDING VIEWPOINTS

- Land belongs to the entire people with the State as the representative owner. Land use right is a special asset and commodity but it is not the ownership right. Land use right is stipulated in accordance with each type of land, each object and form of land lease and allocation. The State exercises ownership right through deciding land use planning and land use plans; permitting conversion of land use purpose and deciding land use duration; determining land prices; deciding the policy for regulating the increased value of land not accruing from investment by land user; granting land use right and recovering land for national defense and security purposes, national and public interests and socio-economic development projects in accordance to legal regulations.

- Land user that the State allocates, sublease land and recognizes land use right for stable and long-term basis or a term shall have the right to exchange, assign, lease, sublease, inherit, mortage, and contribute capital using land use right and shall be paid compensation when the State recovers land on the basis of land types and land use source in accordance with legal regulations. Land user shall have to register land use right, use the land for the correct purpose, comply with planning schemes, return land when the State issues land recovery decisions, observe land law.
The State shall not recognize any claim to land which was allocated to other users during the implementation process of the land policies. The State shall not adjust agricultural land which was allocated to households and individuals but the State shall have proper policies to make sure that agricultural land is used effectively by people who directly engage in agricultural production.

- Land shall be allocated properly, used for correct purpose and economically to ensure both short and long-term interests, environmental protection and meet requirements for sustainable development, improve the quality of and protect agricultural land, and secure national food security.

- Land policies must contribute to stabilizing politics and society, meet requirements for socio-economic development, national security and defense, international integration; mobilize all resources for national development; harmonize the interests of the State, land users and investors for healthy development and speculation prevention. Effectively use pricing and tax tools in land management to fight wastefulness, corruption and complaints and denunciations.

- Effectiveness of State management over land shall be improved; administrative reform shall be sped up, transparency in land management shall be ensured. Land services shall be diversified. Modern land management system shall be developed, giving priority to the development of modern land database and infrastructure system.

- The Party’s leadership and State management over land shall be enhanced, the role of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front, mass organizations and the entire people in implementing land policies shall be upheld. Synchronous land management at central level shall be ensured while land management shall be decentralized to local level, sanctions shall be adopted to strictly deal with violations of land policies. Order in land management and use shall be resolutely restored.

III - ORIENTATIONS FOR CONTINUED RENOVATION AND IMPROVEMENT OF LAND POLICIES

In the time to come, in order to meet the requirement for comprehensively accelerating the renewal process on the basis of inheriting orientations for land policies stipulated in the Resolution of the 7 th plenary meeting of the 9 th Party Central Committee, it is necessary to continue renovating and perfecting land policies with the following specific contents:

1-Land use planning

The State shall renovate and improve the connectivity and consistence between land use planning, land use plans and construction planning, sectoral planning using land towards proper and balanced land use planning, in order to ensure effective land use among sectors, regions and administrative units. Construction planning and sectoral planning using land shall be in line with targets and progress of land use decided in land planning and land use plans.

The State shall renew annual land use plans towards reflecting the demand for land use of investment projects of sectors, making them the basis for the State to recover, allocate or lease land, converse land use purpose, and develop financial policies in relation to land. Uniform inspection and supervision from the central to the grass-roots level over the implementation of land planning and land use plans shall be enhanced. The conversion of use purpose of land for rice cultivation, protective forest land, and specialized use forest land shall be tightly controlled. Acts of breaching proclaimed land use planning shall be strictly punished.

Mechanisms and policies shall be introduced to lure investments in infrastructure, industrial and service, and tourism development being consistent with socio-economic infrastructure to exploit land potentials in midland, mountainous and coastal areas, and mitigate the use of land for rice cultivation only.

Production facilities and non-business units having large workforce shall be removed away from urban areas, particularly in big cities for effective land exploitation and use in accordance with legal regulations and for reduction of environmental pollution and traffic congestion.

2- Land allocation and lease

Objects of land allocation shall be reduced and objects of land rent shall be expanded. Land allocation and lease to implement socio-economic development projects shall be carried out mainly through auction of land use right, tendering for projects which use land.

The State shall continue to allocate land, lease agricultural land to households and individuals on a term basis, towards longer duration of land allocation or lease in order to encourage farmers to identify themselves with their land and set their mind at rest when they invest in production. At the same time, the State shall expand the limits to agricultural land use right transfer in accordance with specific conditions of each region, each development stage in order to facilitate land accumulation and concentration, gradually shape large areas of agricultural commodity production. Measures shall be quickly introduced to meet production demand and create job for a number of ethnic people who dot not have land for production.

The State shall focus on reviewing and completely dealing with cases of land allocation to administrative bodies, non-business units and mass organizations if the allocated land is not used or used for incorrect purpose or illegally used. Auction of land use right shall be implemented when rearranging the State-owned working headquarters so as to shift land use purpose to economic development.

Specific conditions for investors to be allocated or leased land to implement socio-economic development projects shall be introduced; at the same time, synchronous and specific sanctions shall be designed to strictly punish and completely deal with those who are allocated or leased land by the State but the land is used wastefully, for incorrect purpose, for speculation or slowly put into use; compensation shall not be paid to land, related assets and investments in land if land is recovered due to violation of land law.

3- Recovery, compensation, assistance, resettlement

The State shall proactively recover land in accordance with approved annual land use plans. Clearer and more specific regulations shall be issued to address cases when the State recovers land for national defense and security purpose or for serving national and public interests, and socio-economic development plans. For production and business projects consistent to land use planning, households and individuals using the land can assign, lease or contribute capital using land use right to implement the projects.

Land recovery, compensation, assistance and resettlement shall be the responsibility of People’s Committees at all levels with the participation of the whole political system. The capacity of entities responsible for developing land fund in order to ensure the task of compensation for site clearance and auction of land use right shall be consolidated and improved.

The land recovery, compensation, assistance and resettlement when the State recovers land shall be carried out in a democratic, transparent, objective and equal manner and in line with legal regulations. Land user shall be paid compensation in accordance with the current land use purpose. Fruitfully implement projects on vocational training and job creation, re-organize production and ensure life of people whose land is recovered. Study ways to pay compensation or provide assistance to ensure life of those whose land is recovered.

Improve mechanisms for land fund creation, mobilize capital resources to build residential areas with synchronous social and technical infrastructure in order to arrange new accommodation for those whose land is recovered before compensation and site clearance. Residential areas shall be built in accordance with specific conditions, manners and customs of each region.

4- Land registration and grant of certificate

Land use right registration shall be compulsory. The State shall protect rights and legitimate interests of persons having registered land in accordance with legal regulations, and issue strict sanctions to prevent unregistered land transactions.

Investments shall be enhanced in measuring, making maps and cadastral files, developing database, reforming administrative procedures, accelerating the process of granting certificate of land use right, housing ownership right, and assets attached to land in order to meet the demand of land users.

5- Rights and obligations of organizations, families and individuals who are allocated land

Specific regulations shall be developed to stipulate the rights of land users, conditions for investors to be granted land use right to deploy investment projects. Land lease or capital contribution using land use right shall be encouraged to implement investment projects.

6- Real estate market development

Mechanisms and policies shall be developed for healthy and sustainable development of the real estate market. State management and regulation from the central to grass-roots levels shall be enhanced. Urban development and real estate business projects shall be in accordance with land use planning and market demand. Speed up housing construction, especially social housing in order to gradually improve housing conditions for people.

For socio-economic infrastructure and urban renovation projects, it is necessary to make planning of the areas around the projects so as to recover land, create land-attached resources to invest in these projects and support those whose land is recovered, and increase budget collection; priority shall be given to those whose land is recovered to be allocated or buy houses built on the recovered land.

The State shall proactively regulate the market through demand-supply relations; gradually reduce cash transactions in real estate field; review conditions for selecting investors to make sure that they are competent enough to deploy real estate projects.

7- Financial policies on land

The State shall proactively regulate the real estate market through renovating financial policies on land, especially tax policies. Mechanisms shall be developed to diversify financial resources for land development fund, including the extraction of land fees so as to create land fund, resettlement fund, or social housing fund.

Preferential tax policies shall be in order to ensure equality, unity, simplicity, convenience and loss prevention. Proper tax policies and tax rates shall be introduced in order to nurture source of revenue and encourage people to use land sparingly and effectively. The State shall apply progressive taxation policies on projects that are slowly carried out or left fallow without putting the land into use in accordance with legal regulations.

Real estate tax (applied to land, housing and assets attached to land) shall be studied and promulgated. People with fallow land and housing or allocated, leased land slowly put into use shall be subjected to high tax levels.
Strictly implement the Law on Corporate Income Tax, Law on Personal Income Tax, including income tax accruing from the conversion of land use right, tax collection shall not be conducted on a flat rate basis.

8- Land prices

Land prices shall be decided by the State on the basis of land use purposes at the time of pricing and in line with principles of the State-managed market mechanism.

The Government shall provide regulations on price determination methods and the price framework as the foundations for provincial-level People’s Committees to publish their specific price lists. Additional regulations shall be made in order to flexibly adjust the price framework and lists appropriate to each category of land, each group of land users and each case of land lease or allocation. It is necessary to have proper mechanisms for dealing with price differences in bordering areas of localities.

The organizational structure of the State pricing agency shall be strengthened, the officials involved in land price fixing and evaluation shall be qualified. Land price consultative agency and land price evaluating agency are two independent bodies; the agency dealing with land price-related complaints must have clear responsibilities.

It is necessary to monitor and update land price fluctuations on the market; to gradually build up land price database for each and every land plot; to supervise independent price fixing agencies and organizations; and to encourage the development of independent consultative organizations for land price.

9- Administrative reform

It is essential to accelerate administrative reforms in land and to clearly define functions, obligations and competence of ministries, agencies and local government in State administration of land in order to guarantee their uniform, effective and unoverlapping land management.

Administrative process and procedures in respect to land should be stipulated by and devolved to local governments at different levels in conformity with the guideline and requirements of administrative reforms as well as specific conditions from time to time.

The authority to recover land, allocate land, lease land, permit conversion of land use purpose, issue certificates of land use rights, ownership of houses and other assets attached to the land shall be reviewed and adjusted in order to secure uniform land administration at the central level while promoting the active role of local governments. The permission of the conversion of land use rights shall be strictly controlled in respect of wet rice cultivation land, specialized use forest land, and protective forest land into non-agricultural land. Provincial and district-level authority shall be adjusted in line with requirements of administrative reforms.

The supervision over civil servants in charge of land management shall be enhanced; all cases of harassments or extortions against people and businesses shall be strictly punished.

10- Inspection and settlement of land-related disputes, complaints and denunciations

Competent agencies must timely and completely resolve land-related disputes, complaints and denunciations in line with legal regulations on complaint, denunciation, administrative and civil proceedings; and publicize the results.
The system of land inspectorates and courts should be consolidated and strengthened; the qualifications of judges should be improved. Due attentions should be paid to the training and qualification of the force of inspectors, judges and officials dealing with land disputes, complaints and denunciations. Sanctions should be reviewed, amended and supplemented to settle all violations.

11- Improving land managing capability

Surveys and evaluation of land quality and potential should be accelerated to serve land management and use, response to climate change, and sustainable development. Land policies and laws should be disseminated in communities, especially in remote areas and the regions of ethnic minority groups.

Investments should be prioritized in setting up modern, open and transparent database and information infrastructure on land and assets attached to the land in order to serve different purposes; land e-transactions shall be gradually popularized. The construction of a land information system shall be completed by 2020.

The organizational structure of land management should be further perfected, its staff qualified, trained and nurtured in order to meet requirements of State administration of land.

The organizational structure and operational mechanism of offices of land use rights registration should be further consolidated and upgraded to the model of public service providing one-stop-shops run by provinces or centrally-administered cities, with branches located in districts and densely-populated areas; this model shall be piloted in urban areas first.

Policies and mechanisms on land fund developing organizations should be finalized while these funds’ capability should be enhanced, so that they can be converted into land fund development enterprises; land services should be diversified.

IV- IMPLEMENTATION

- Party committees and Party civil affairs committees at all echelons shall direct the dissemination and understanding of this Resolution, promote their leadership, and create an uniformity in awareness and actions in implementing this Resolution.

- In 2013, the Politburo shall direct the review of the realization of Resolution 28-NQ/TW dated June 16, 2003 on further rearranging, renewing and developing State-run farms and plantations in order to put forth scenarios for reorganizing these establishments and adopt policies and mechanisms for effective use of forest lands to serve socio-economic development and environment protection.

- The National Assembly’s party committee shall guide the revision and supplementation of the Law on Land 2003; at the same time reviewing and perfecting related laws in order to lay the legal foundation for the implementation of this Resolution, and supervising the implementation nationwide.

- The Government’s Party civil affair committee shall direct the revision and supplementation of by-law documents; guide ministries, agencies and local authorities to set up and realize specific programs and plans on implementing the Resolution in a uniform and effective manner. It shall regularly monitor, inspect and review the implementation of the Resolution and timely adjust specific programs, plans and solutions in conformity with realities.

- The Viet Nam Fatherland Front and mass organizations shall actively encourage all walks of life to take part in and supervise the implementation of the Resolution.

- Party’s committees at central level, within their competence, shall assist the Party Central Committee, the Politburo and the Secretariat to monitor and inspect the implementation of the Resolution. The Party Central Committee Office shall coordinate with relevant agencies in monitoring the implementation of the Resolution and periodically report to the Politburo, the Secretariat and the Party Central Committee.

VietNamNet/VGP


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