Millions of square meters have not been approved at VNR
The Government Inspectorate has just issued Inspection Conclusion Notice No. 2414 on the restructuring of State-owned enterprises, the conversion of land use purposes from production and business land of State-owned enterprises and equitized enterprises to land business and housing construction in the period 2011 - 2021 at the Ministry of Transport (MOT).
In the inspection contents, the Government Inspectorate pointed out many shortcomings in the management and use of land when implementing the equitization of Vietnam Railways Corporation (VNR).
Before implementing the equitization of the units, VNR managed 772 real estate facilities with a total area of 11,519,709m2.Since 2015, implementing the decisions on restructuring the enterprise, VNR has equitized 26 member units, but VNR retained 630 facilities, only assigning 26 units to manage and use 142 facilities.
However, out of the total 630 facilities retained by VNR, the Ministry of Finance has only approved the land use plan for 175 facilities; 445 facilities have not been approved with an area of up to 6,558,928m2.
Out of the total 142 facilities assigned to 26 units, the Ministry of Finance has also only approved the land use plan for 44 facilities; the remaining 98 facilities with an area of 350,412m2 have not had their land use plan approved.
Land rent debt of more than 482 billion VND
The existing problems in land management and use at VNR can be clearly seen in the land and housing facility at 551 Nguyen Van Cu, Gia Lam District, Hanoi of Gia Lam Railway Factory. At this facility, VNR manages and uses 158,752m2; Gia Lam Railway Joint Stock Company manages and uses 9,838m2 and Hanoi Railway Transport Joint Stock Company manages and uses 35,283m2. However, this land use plan has not been approved by the Ministry of Finance.
Also at this real estate facility, the Ministry of Transport approved the equitization plan of Gia Lam Railway Joint Stock Company and Hanoi Railway Transport Joint Stock Company while the competent authority has not yet approved the plan to rearrange and handle the real estate facility at 551 Nguyen Van Cu according to the provisions of the law on equitization. By August 2023, VNR still owes land rent at this real estate facility with a total amount of VND 482,252 million.
An issue that is even more noticeable is that the 551 Nguyen Van Cu real estate facility currently has two different plans. In which, according to Decision 6115/QD-UBND dated November 21, 2014 of the Hanoi People's Committee, the location of the real estate facility is urban subdivision N10 (including the relocation of the 551 Nguyen Van Cu real estate facility). Meanwhile, according to the railway industry plan approved by the Prime Minister, this real estate facility will continue to be used for the railway industry.
Or with the 2,800m2 land and housing facility at 107 Tran Hung Dao, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi, at the time of inspection and verification, VNR had not completed the legal documents of the land, had not terminated the lease at the facility, had not fulfilled its financial obligations regarding the land; and had left the land to waste.
VNR proposed that the State Capital Management Committee at Enterprises consider and adjust the real estate arrangement plan from "continue to use" to "transfer to local management and handling".
The Government Inspectorate affirmed that the responsibility for the above-mentioned existence belongs to Vietnam Railways Corporation (VNR), the Ministry of Transport and 26 member units implementing equitization.
With the inspection results, the Government Inspectorate requested the Hanoi People's Committee to inspect and review the management and use of real estate facilities to take measures or recommend measures to handle the real estate facility of VNR at 107 Tran Hung Dao which was determined to have no need for use.
Vietnam Railways Corporation is also responsible for reviewing and calculating according to the law to pay to the state budget more than 324.2 billion VND in land rent debt according to the contract.
