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Upon receiving the municipal authority's permission, in 1997 our
Association developed a project to construct the South Thang
Long Industrial Zone. But it took four years for the project to
obtain land allocation. One more year passed until we could
complete the land clearance. Progress on building roads to the
IZ, a state-funded construction work outside the industrial
zone, has been too slow, so we voluntarily offered to contribute
investment in the form of BOT. However, authorities did not give
us their permission to do so, and as it now stands, the one
kilometer of road is still under construction, and is creating
huge problems for enterprises in the IZ. Furthermore, there
remains discrimination between foreign and domestic enterprises
as to land lease terms, since foreign firms can lease the
“cleared” land for a lump-sum lease fee based on the project's
lifetime, with clearance and compensation conducted by the
State, while domestic enterprises have to complete the
compensation and clearance process by themselves at a higher
cost.
One of the main difficulties in the LURC issuance procedure,
particularly for urban land, is determining the land's origin.
This is due to the fact that there are currently eight
categories of land. This does not include complications added by
multiple unofficial transactions and the lack of a database for
transactions. Many land owners do not want to go through the
process of obtaining a LURC as this would entail complicated and
costly requirements such as re-measuring the land.
Mr. Vu Duy Thai, Chairman
of Hanoi Industry and Trade Association
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To simplify the administrative procedure and facilitate domestic
and foreign investors, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee
issued Decision No 139/2004 regulating the inter-sectoral
coordination mechanism to appraise applications for land
allocation, land-lease and land-use conversion. According to
these new regulations, investors only have to deal with the
local Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DONRE)
when submitting an application and receiving appraisal results.4
After three years of implementation, the “inter-sectoral single
window” mechanism has shortened the appraisal process from one
to two years to 20-40 days per application, generating great
cost savings. Feedback from the Inter-sectoral Working Group
(IWG) was given on every application, and investors were
informed of the grounds for either approval or disapproval of
the applications. The most important feature of this procedure
is that the whole appraisal process takes place during meetings
of IWG members, who have thoroughly studied the applications
prior to the meeting and have consulted with their
organization's leadership when necessary. At these meetings, all
members are authorized to make decisions (except for very
special cases). The meeting's minutes provide the most essential
grounds for DONRE to draft a report to the People's Committee
for the final decision. The role of DONRE is to provide
investors with guidelines for completing applications, making
brief reports, distributing related documentations to IWG
members, and organizing working sessions of the IWG.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Cam Van,
Head of Planning and Administrative Division, Department of
Natural Resources and Environment of Ho Chi Minh City
-
The LURC issuance process is currently being accelerated. The
duration of the process largely depends on whether a piece of
land is under legal dispute, and whether the LURs' supporting
documentation is sufficient. Issuing the “red book” is
complicated when it comes to the definition of land type
(residential or agricultural), and possible legal disputes
related to that piece of land caused by multiple unofficial
transactions in the past. The issuance of the LURC also creates
a legal basis to assist in land management and future dispute
settlement. The next move of LRAs will be to develop a full
archive of information on land and individuals, upon which
enterprises, for a service fee, may register, transfer, and
perform information searches on pieces of land.
Mr. Dao Trung Chinh, Deputy Director
of Land Department, Ministry of Natural Resources and
Environment
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Despite detailed regulations on procedures of LURC issuance
stipulated in the Land Law and its implementing guidelines, the
practice is different in each locality. Quang Tri is the leading
province in implementing the single-window mechanism, allowing
its authorized land registration agencies (LRAs) to collect
money from individuals and enterprises for later deposit to the
Treasury. By doing so, individuals and enterprises do not have
to spend time visiting various state agencies during the
process. This model needs to be further streamlined and
standardized and to be applied in all provinces. The application
of ISO standards to LURs certificate issuance procedures,
particularly the standardized maximum duration of each step
involved in the process, will certainly shorten the time needed
to issue certificates to citizens and force state agencies to be
more responsible in their work.
Mr. Do Duc Doi, Deputy Director
of Land Registration and Statistics Department, Ministry of
Natural Resources and Environment
(4) In the southern part of the city,
single-window office is located at South Area Management Board.
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