The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Nguyen Minh Quang, admitted at a NA's meeting that there are still many shortcomings in State management of land use.
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| Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Nguyen Minh Quang (center) |
He said that because of a complicated history and many changes in land owners that led to disputes, the Government holds most of the responsibility for the problems.
Laws on land-use rights have been changed many times over the years. Dozens of adjustments documents have caused troubles to managers and citizens.
Quang emphasised the weakness for the arrangement of land recovery by localities and even admitted that the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources has responsibility for such cases, adding that, "The problem must be solved from the bottom up."
The land laws are currently being revised to be sent to the National Assembly.
The Government Inspector, General Huynh Phong Tranh, reported that in 528 of the most complicated pending dispute cases, 79.9% are related to encroachment. Some cases have been pending for 20 years or more, trying to cut through the red tape. Hanoi and HCMC are the two cities with the highest number of land disputes.
Tranh said there are two types of situations. The first is, after holding meetings, people make private agreements and withdraw their complaints. In the second situation, people do not agree with any solutions. The second situation accounts for 74% of the cases.
According to him, about 27% of pending cases, the inspectorates unilaterally make the decision to increase land use rights because of past wrong decisions by local authorities. He added that the roles of agencies must be reconsidered because none are willing to take responsibility for final decisions.
Tranh said that, though there are still many people waiting to file suit, most are new cases, and the backlog of suits must be dealt with first. He said that this is an indication that people are more patient for their cases to be heard.
Tranh promised to deal with 528 pending cases by the end of 2012.
