Auction all public land, proposes head of parliament

By Anh Minh, Nguyen Ha   October 16, 2018 | 07:32 am PT
Auction all public land, proposes head of parliament
National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan proposed that all public land be put up for auction. Photo by VnExpress/Nhat Quang
Vietnam should put all public land up for auction to increase transparency in resource management, National Assembly Chairwoman says. 

Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan said Tuesday that many businesses and individuals have been given land without going through a bidding process, resulting in losses to the state coffers.

Many people, including real estate tycoons, have become rich because they have been allocated land without going through an auction, Ngan said at a National Assembly (NA) meeting.

She proposed that all public land be auctioned, starting next year, including land owned by state-owned enterprises.

The state can pay the clearance costs first and be reimbursed after the auction, Ngan said, adding that this regulation should added to the Budget Resolution so the NA can supervise the auctioning process. 

In a new report submitted to the NA, the Ministry of Construction stated that the real estate market lacked transparency in planning, selecting and handing land over to investors. 

Local authorities give land directly to investors without going through the auctioning process, and this has had negative results, the report said.

It added that the real estate market was developing without effective management by local authorities.

One such case was in the northern province of Bac Giang.

In August, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment concluded after an inspection that the provincial authorities had given land where a public park was planned to an investor to run a golf training operation.

Nguyen Van Linh, Chairman of Bac Giang, allowed domestic construction firm Cuong Thinh Thi to “borrow” a 1.7-hectare land lot for 48 years, inspectors said.

They added that this action was illegal under Vietnam’s Land Law, which states that authorities can only give land to an investor by allocation, leasing or recognition of land use rights.

 
 
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