The Minister of National Resources and Environment, Nguyen Minh Quang, has admitted that the granting of land use rights for individuals has been slow, but attributed the problem to local staff.
Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Nguyen Minh Quang
“Many localities have faced a personnel shortages and we lacked any policies that would motivate the overworked staff. This is among the causes they have been slow in the processing of land grants," the minister said.
“A land use right certificate offers the owner many benefits, particularly in urban areas. At the same time, those who are in charge of granting these rights have nothing to gain. Meanwhile, the appraisal process is very complicated," he added.
According to Minister Quang, difficulties in accurately tracking the history of land use and cumbersome administrative procedures also slowed down the issuance process. The hostile attitude of some of the staff in charge of granting certificates annoyed many applicants.
Officials of natural resources and environment departments on the local level did not pay due attention to assuring a speedier grant process, he pointed out.
He suggested spending part of the fees collected from the granting of land use certificates on the staff in charge of the work. Currently the majority of these funds go back into state coffers.
The minister added that, “Any land officers who are caught harassing applicants in any way or delay granting certificates for eligible applicants will be strictly punished.”
Quang said this year it was expected that as many as six million land use rights certificates would be granted.
At present, 18 cities and provinces nationwide have come close to completing all pending applications for land use rights, including Dong Thap, An Giang, Long An, Vinh Long, Ben Tre, Bac Lieu and Binh Duong.
Meanwhile, 45 other localities are lagging behind; 11 provinces have granted less than 7% of their usable land.
About VND3 trillion (USD144 million) will be allocated to speed up the issuance of land use rights certificates nationwide this year.
