Land price controls found wanting
A view of Sai Dong Urban Area in Ha Noi’s Long Bien District. Viet Nam needs to revise land price management. — VNA/VNS Photo Tuan Anh
HA NOI (VNS)— Viet Nam needs to streamline the revised Land Law to better manage land prices, according to Dang Hung Vo, former Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Environment.
He said that land price evaluation played a very important role in land management, however current regulations for calculating land prices for compensation and relocation were not in line with market prices.
In fact, the State’s land price framework often only amounted to between 10-70 per cent of market prices.
According to Vo, a separate institution should be established to oversee land price evaluation and handle complaints at central and provincial levels. He believes the independent institution would help ensure transparency in land price evaluation, in turn reducing price-related complaints.
Vo called for the land law revisions to include regulations ensuring appropriate land price evaluations using the market mechanism, as well as agreements from relevant parties.
In addition, he said the revision should create a legal framework for the operation of land price consultancy services, saying that the land price evaluation requires field experts and should not be assigned to local administrative bodies. The draft amendments to the Land Law have been made public and are currently open for comment.
According to deputy director of the General Department of Land Administration Do Trung Chinh, the draft added four standard measures to evaluate land prices, together with regulations on supervising the land price framework. — VNS