Land valuations in most parts of Ho Chi Minh City will remain unchanged next year as the city administration wants to create stable conditions to attract investment

, officials say.

Under a new proposal the HCMC People’s Committee recently submitted a proposal to the city legislature, only 17 of 2,890 streets in the city will have their land valuations adjusted for the new year.

Dong Khoi, Nguyen Hue and Le Loi streets in the city center remain at the top with the highest land valuation of VND81 million per square meter. Meanwhile, land in outlying Can Gio District will be valued at VND1.2 million per square meter, the lowest rate in the city.

Land valuations set by the city government every year are mainly used for tax purposes. If passed by the city legislature, the new land valuation system will take effect on January 1, 2010.

Land valuations in some districts this year have more than doubled from 2007. The increased values have led to higher land use taxes in Phu My Hung residential area in District 7, leading to an ongoing dispute between the property developer and residents over who should pay the taxes.

Vacant land lots scattered among Hanoi apartment buildings will be up for grabs at auctions this month.

The city will sell bidding application forms through Monday. The forms are required to attend the auctions.

The first auction is expected to be held next Wednesday, selling lots of 45.5-54 square meters in Tay Ho District at the offering price of VND22 million a square meter.

These lots are located near markets, schools, police stations as well as within the municipal power and lighting network, according to the city government.

Next Saturday people can also bid at the second auction for land lots at the old Animal Health Center and the Tax Department of Phuc Tho District at the offering price of VND3-4 million a square meter.

Hanoi had previously planned to carry out 83 land auctions by the end of this year to collect a total of VND3.42 trillion (US$187 million) for the state budget. However, the city has only earned 19 percent of the money as only 14 auctions have been launched at 11 districts, earning VND649.3 billion.

The auctions this week had been delayed from previous dates, according to the Hanoi People’s Committee.

Vu Van Hau, director of Hanoi Department of Natural Resources and Environment, said both the cooled real estate market and the auction organizers were to blame for the delays and lack of progress towards the auctions’ overall annual goals.

Source: Thanhnien News

The regular five-year inventory of Ha Noi’s land has been scheduled to begin on January 1 by Ha Noi’s People’s Committee, but it will be bigger than all previous surveys.

The inventory, which will be mapped out in detail at the same time, will take about eight months to complete and will include all the land in the expanded Ha Noi.

Regulated by the Government, it will be used to evaluate, improve and understand the development of the various parcels of land throughout the city, including residential, industrial, educational, healthcare and parkland areas and the accompanying infrastructure – or need for it.

The Department of Natural Resources and Environment will carry out the task and has been instructed to report back to the committee and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment by August next year.

Land up for review includes paddy fields, farmland rezoned for industrial or residential use, property being used illegally and forestry.

The department compiles statistics of land use, prepares documents based on land surveys and grants certificates outlining land-use rights.

According to the department, preparations for the work are already being made, such as composing documents and application forms, disseminating information on public means of telecommunications, training state employees in the necessary skills, and providing basic maps and softwares to district-level offices.

The deputy director of Registration and Statistics for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Nguyen Tien Khang, said the review would be the foundation for assessing land use for expanded Ha Noi.

Specifically, the work will identify the areas and use of land within the administrative border of each district and commune andamend state documents acordingly, Khang said.

The present survey would help tackle long-standing conflicts about land use in the city, he added.

The committee asked the department to prepare thoroughly and to cooperate closely with lower-level units to complete the work on schedule.

HCM City authorities have pledged to make procedures for auctioning prime public lands more transparent after disputes derailed efforts to sell a high-value plot last April.

A senior official at the city Department of Planning and Investment, who wished o remain unnamed, put this down to an urgent need to attact investment to so-called “golden” lands.

When the city tried to auction off a 13,000sq.m piece of land situated between Tran Hung Dao street, Pham Ngu Lao and Nguyen Thai Hoc streets in the downtown area in April, the bidding process became contentious and the auction was finally cancelled.

Speaking about it at that time, Tran Van Truyen, head of the Government Inspectorate, said this was because of violation of land administration and bidding regulations by city authoritiesand slow action on complaints by the losing bidder.

The city is now trying to make sure that capable investors take parts in bidding for prime properties. Their investment would not only bring economic benefit but also help build a modern city, an official said.

This year the city plans to auction off six prime pieces of land.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment announced new regulations yesterday on land usage, land price determination, revoking of land use rights , compensation and support for resettlement. These regulations, stated in the Government’s Decree No 69/2009/ND-CP, will come into effect as of October 1 this year.

Under the decree, for the first time, provincial people’s committees will be allowed to set aside between 30-50 per cent of State collections from land usage and land leasing to establish land development funds.

These funds will be used to supply capital for projects such as building houses for resettlement, land clearance serving socio-economic development, giving compensation to displaced people and to organise vocational training courses.

Each farmer, from whom the State takes back 30 to 70 per cent of their land, will be given financial support equivalent to 30kg rice per month.

The duration of the support depends on whether they have to move to another place to live or not.

Household businesses or companies, who must stop operations because of losing land to the Government, will receive an amount of money equivalent to a maximum 30 per cent of their average after-tax income for the prior three years.

In some specific cases, households and individuals doing agricultural production will be given an amount of money equivalent to 1.5 – 5 times the price of the lot of land lost, and those of working age will be admitted to vocational training courses for free. (MONRE)

Residents who must move to make way for development projects will be compensated with land whose use is similar to their original plot, according to a new Government decree.

If there is no available land, displaced residents will be compensated with cash equal to their land price calculated at the time when the reclamation decision is made.

Effective on October 1, the decree contains regulations on zoning, prices, compensation and resettlement.

It also includes details on how local residents will be supported, including job creation, expenses for resettlement and vocational training.

Individuals and families whose agricultural land is reclaimed and who are not compensated with land will be helped to find other jobs.

In addition, they will either receive cash equal to 1.5-5 times of the value of their reclaimed land or will have a choice of receiving a residential land lot, an apartment, or a land lot for non-agricultural trade and production.

Displaced residents, who are of working age will be provided free vocational training, if requested.

The decree also contains provisions on compensation for houses and other construction facilities that were destroyed on reclaimed land.

Pham Khoi Nguyen, minister of Natural Resources and Environment, said the decree focused on solving impediments during land compensation and reclamation, especially for agricultural land.

Nguyen said the ministry decided to provide as many benefits as possible to people whose land had been reclaimed.

Nguyen said his ministry was completing guiding documents on implementing the decree and would issue the guidance by the end of August.

An evaluation of public land use in HCM City has revealed that more than 60 per cent of property allocated to State corporations is being improperly used, according to the city’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

A comprehensive investigation by the National Assembly’s Economic Committee and the department was conducted to evaluate the illegal use of public land and houses in order to report findings to the upcoming NA session.

The investigation found that more than 3.8 out of 6.3 million square metres of public land lots and houses allocated for use by State corporations and companies in HCM City were illegally rented out to other businesses for uses such as stores or restaurants.

For example, the Viet Nam Seafood Corporation put up more than 9,530sq.m for rent to other parties, the Sai Gon Trading Corporation has rented out 4,300 sq.m of space and the Southern Poultry Corporation put up 2,528sq.m of its allotted area for rent.

Ha Van Hien, head of the committee, said that land lots represented one of the biggest assets held by the corporations and that strict supervision and management were needed for more effective use.

Contributing factors

Dao Anh Kiet, director of the municipal department, said that on average, State corporations paid 2 per cent of market value per month for their public land allotments, bringing them significant benefits when they rented the properties out.

Management of public land held by State companies that had become a joint-stock company was even more difficult because their new rights allowed them to register their trading and services in multiple sectors. Their land would not be reclaimed, said Dao Thi Huong Lan, director of the city’s Finance Department.

“To solve this problem, the State corporations active in trading, services or real estate should pay 50-75 per cent of market prices,” said Kiet.

“If the State wants to support or create favourable conditions for these corporations, policies should be used to facilitate them,” said Dinh Quang An, head of the Central Management Institute.

Ngo Minh Hong, director of the city’s Justice Department, said that oversight by relevant authorities was necessary to transparently re-allocate land to other uses or purposes when it was reclaimed because of improper use.

“The Ministry of Finance will publish specific supervision and reclaiming procedures for the public land lots in question,” said Lan.

In the last three years, the Government published six decrees and decisions which requested relevant agencies and local authorities to monitor the illegal use of public land and houses, said Pham Khoi Nguyen, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment. (MONRE)

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment plans to introduce the one title deed for both land use rights and house ownership as of October 1 this year.

According to the revision, the ministry will be the only agency allowed to grant the certificates.

The new document would replace the current red and pink books for land-use and house ownership certificates.

The new document would replace the current red and pink books for land-use and house ownership certificates, Nguyen Van Duc, deputy minister, said.

There had been numerous complaints from the public about the complicated procedures that needed to be followed when buying land and property, the ministry said. It hoped the Land Law amendment would alleviate most of the problems.

Nguyen Cong Thinh, an architect, said: “The existence of so many certificates is confusing. Whenever land-owners want to change the way they use their land, they have to renew their books, facing a lengthy and frustrating administrative process.”

The deputy minister said the change in the Land Law would streamline the administrative procedures. “The best thing about this change is that landowners only need to come to one office to have their paperwork done,” Duc said. “The administrative procedures will be much less complicated.”

He added that existing certificates will still be valid after October 1.

“It is not necessary to remake the old certificates now. If it is required to replace all existing certificates, we will allow sufficient time for that to be done,” Duc added.

The ministry plans to publish detailed guidelines on the new Land Law in the next few days.

Newly established issuing offices in each district will take charge of granting new land certificates. In provinces where the issuing offices have not been established, the Peoples Committees will issue the new certificates.

Duc added: “The officials will play an important role in instructing people to get used to the new rule. They should explain that this is the last time we will change the Land Law regarding certificates as there have been many chances. Otherwise, people will not co-operate.” (MONRE)