Binh Duong province land management violations unveiled

The Government Inspectorate has detected multiple violations in the management and use of land in the southern province of Binh Duong, including slow project implementation, illegal changes to land use purposes, and spontaneous land divisions.

In its conclusions on land management, use and project implementation in Binh Duong province from 2011-2019, the agency said that many projects that had received approval and been allocated land but have not put that land into use or delayed project implementation since being granted investment registration certificates.

The schedule of projects has been extended many times, but the provincial People's Committee and affiliated authorities have not acted in accordance with the laws on investment and land. They have also failed to handle cases in which secondary investors sublease land in industrial zones and clusters but do not put the land into use, wasting resources.

In addition, Binh Duong authorities had recovered land related to the headquarters of the provincial Party Committee's organizing and inspection commissions, guest house and office and leased them to the Binh Duong Project Investment and Management Company Limited for commercial and service purposes without auctions for land use rights. This went against the Land Law 2013 and the Law on Management and Use of Public Assets.

Similarly, the process of organizing auctions for public assets including the former headquarters of the Department of Industry and Trade, Department of Transport, Red Cross Society, and Veterans Association violated regulations in the Ministry of Finance’s Circular No. 137/2010 and Circular 28/2015 on Vietnam Valuation Standards.

As the calculations for the starting prices of the properties may have been inaccurate, the Government Inspectorate proposed the provincial People's Committee consider suspending the auction results in line with the law.

Furthermore, after inspecting 12 projects, the inspectors discovered that land prices of five projects were not calculated accurately. The land prices and land price adjustment coefficient for many areas in the 2015-2019 period issued by the provincial People's Committee did not match market prices and ran counter to the 2013 Land Law.

The Government Inspectorate also noted that lax land and construction management by the people's committees of districts and towns in Binh Duong had facilitated spontaneous land divisions and illegal construction.

It proposed the Prime Minister direct the People's Committee of Binh Duong province to take urgent measures to immediately stop spontaneous land divisions and illegal construction and land use.

Binh Duong needs to carry out a comprehensive inspection of illegal land division and sale of land plots in the locality to handle violations in line with the law. If the violation is serious enough for criminal procedures, the province must transfer the case to the provincial Police Department to handle in accordance with the law and report the results to the Government Inspectorate.

In addition, many commercial housing development projects have not completed technical and social infrastructure, and are not eligible for transfer or capital mobilization but the developers have signed transfer or capital raising contracts in various forms.

The inspectors also pointed out that the Department of Natural Resources and Environment had advised the provincial People's Committee to allocate and lease land, and change the use from forest land to other purposes when developers had failed to plant new forests to replace old ones.

State management of forest planting, zoning, and protection in combination with developing tourism complexes and a zoo in the Nui Cau protection forest and Tha La peninsula in Dinh Thanh commune, Dau Tieng district revealed many violations during the investment plan appraisal, approval, and implementation. This should be the responsibility of the provincial People's Committee, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and relevant agencies, organizations and individuals.

The Government Inspectorate concluded that the chairperson of the provincial People's Committee for the 2011-2019 period was responsible for overall direction and management.

Meanwhile, the directors of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment; Department of Agriculture and Rural Development; Department of Finance; Department of Construction; Department of Planning and Investment; and Tax Department as well as the chairpersons of district-level people's committees should take prime responsibility for the above violations and shortcomings.