Removing land difficulties so people can feel secure in production
On November 24, 2024, the Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union coordinated with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to organize the Forum "Chairman of the Vietnam Farmers' Union - Minister of Natural Resources and Environment listens to farmers speak".
Speaking at the opening of the Forum, Chairman of the Vietnam Farmers' Association Luong Quoc Doan affirmed that agriculture, farmers and rural areas of our country have made remarkable progress in recent years.
The lives of farmers and rural residents have improved in all aspects, and the appearance of the countryside has changed profoundly towards becoming increasingly modern and civilized.
However, with the characteristics of agriculture, farmers and rural areas, there are still many shortcomings and limitations such as: Complexity in land management and use; land accumulation and concentration; production scale is still fragmented and small.
Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Do Duc Duy said that unleashing land resources, protecting the environment, proactively preventing natural disasters, responding to climate change, aiming at the goal of sustainable development of agriculture, farmers and rural areas, actively contributing to the cause of industrialization and modernization of the country has always been the consistent policy of the Party and State.
The head of the Natural Resources and Environment sector said that reality requires us to further improve the efficiency of natural resource use; effectively address challenges of environmental pollution; proactively prevent natural disasters and respond to climate change, because these are issues that are directly affecting the development goals of agriculture, farmers and rural areas.
Solutions to prevent profiteering from land auctions
At the Forum, Mr. Nguyen Manh Hieu - Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Phu Xuyen, Hanoi, raised questions about the phenomenon of land auctions, pushing virtual land prices up. Accordingly, in recent times, many localities such as Me Linh, Hoai Duc, Thanh Oai... have auctioned land use rights, including a very high land fever, in some places up to more than 100 million VND/m2. The land auction policy is correct, but there are also concerns that many subjects take advantage to inflate land prices, making it very difficult for low-income households to buy land to build houses and separate land use certificates for their children.
Regarding this issue, Mr. Dao Trung Chinh - Director of the Department of Planning and Land Resources Development (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment) - said that there should be no need to worry too much, this time the new Land Law has new and open regulations. If according to the 2013 Land Law, people in need of residential land must participate in auctions, but Article 124 of the 2024 Land Law stipulates very specifically the cases of land allocation and land lease without auctioning land use rights, without bidding to select investors to implement projects using land.
Responding to this question, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Do Duc Duy said that during the discussion session at the 8th National Assembly Session, the Minister proposed solutions to overcome the situation, obstacles, and shortcomings, even cases of taking advantage of land auctions to inflate prices for profit.
The first solution is that localities need to strictly implement the regulations on the Law on State Property Auction, the Law on Prices, and the 2024 Land Law. The second is transparency, land use planning, construction planning, urban planning, especially in the auction area.
Third, reasonably adjust the land price in the land price list as a basis for determining the starting price when auctioning land. "There has been a situation in the recent past, for land plots that have invested synchronously in infrastructure and technology. According to the provisions of the 2024 Land Law, competent state agencies must re-determine the land price to match the actual price level, but recently, some localities have invested synchronously in technical infrastructure but still use the land price when there is no investment in infrastructure as the starting price, leading to a large gap between the starting price for auction and the auction area price, leading to many subjects wanting to buy for profit through auction" - Mr. Duy said.
Fourthly, according to the Minister, localities need to strengthen solutions on land and housing supply that are suitable to the needs of the majority of people, with reasonable prices so that people can afford and buy to use, avoiding the imbalance of supply and demand for land and housing... Because when supply and demand do not meet, prices are pushed up.
Fifth, in the auction regulations, it is possible to stipulate a shortening of the time for depositing winning bids, and at the same time, supplement regulations on public disclosure of cases of high bids and deposit cancellations to limit cases of taking advantage of the auction for personal gain.
Finally, the Minister said that it is necessary to strengthen inspection and strictly handle violations to overcome situations as delegates have recently reflected in the suburban areas of Hanoi.
