Explaining some opinions of National Assembly deputies at the discussion session on the draft Law on Land (amended) on the afternoon of June 21, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Dang Quoc Khanh, on behalf of the drafting agency, expressed his deep gratitude to all the people nationwide for their great interest and participation in contributing ideas, and there have been more than 12 million contributions to this draft law.

During the process of collecting public opinions, the drafting agency has compiled, researched, absorbed, revised, and explained the opinions, thereby perfecting the draft law as assessed by the National Assembly Standing Committee and National Assembly deputies that the draft law has made a very important step forward in quality.

The draft law consists of 16 chapters and 263 articles, of which 5 sections are increased, 40 articles are added, and 13 articles are abolished compared to the draft that previously solicited public opinions.

Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Dang Quoc Khanh: After the land price list is available, it will be updated annually based on this price list. Photo: Tuan Huy

According to the Commander of the Natural Resources and Environment sector, to ensure consistency and avoid overlap between the draft Land Law (amended) and other draft laws, this time based on the principle and agreed by the National Assembly Standing Committee, that is, for laws promulgated before the effective date of the Land Law (amended), they will be reviewed, if there are any contradictions or conflicts, specific provisions on the content of amendments, supplements, and repeals will be made right in the draft law, ensuring that the law has a synchronous effect and ensures feasibility.

Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Dang Quoc Khanh affirmed that the drafting agency will absorb and review regulations on land finance and land prices, fully assess the impact of carefully studying land costs. Because this is an important input cost of the economy, ensuring suitability for each subject and type of land use, thereby arousing potential, maximizing the value of land resources and ensuring harmony of interests of the state, land users, investors, ensuring land is a resource for socio-economic development.

Eliminate land price framework and develop annual land price list  

Explaining the principles and methods of land valuation, Minister Dang Quoc Khanh said that the Land Law (amended) will remove the land price framework and develop an annual land price list. When the amended Land Law takes effect, the first land price list will be developed and is expected to be completed before December 31, 2025.

“This is the first time we have built a land price list, so it will take a long time because we will use many methods to get prices close to the market. After the land price list is available, we will update and change it every year based on this price list,” said Minister Dang Quoc Khanh.

Regarding land valuation methods, the commander of the Natural Resources and Environment sector said that the draft proposes four land valuation methods: direct comparison, deduction, income and adjustment coefficient. These four methods will cover all current land cases.

“The direct comparison method will be closer to the market price. Furthermore, there is currently an annual land price list, so when signing a transaction contract, tax collection will be based on the annual land price list, thereby reducing the phenomenon of land price reduction during transactions, ensuring the rights of buyers and sellers,” said Minister Dang Quoc Khanh.

The deduction method will deduct the assets on the land and then still use the comparison method to calculate. The income method will be used for ethnic minority areas, difficult areas, and agricultural areas. The adjustment coefficient method is convenient for areas with little change, stability, and inputs linked to market principles.

According to Minister Dang Quoc Khanh, specific land valuation will depend on the case, and the locality will decide which method to implement, ensuring fairness and avoiding negativity and corruption.

Ensure that people whose land is recovered have new housing equal to or better than their old housing.

Regarding compensation and resettlement support, Minister Dang Quoc Khanh said that in the Land Law (amended), efforts will be made to include provisions to ensure that people whose land is recovered have new housing equal to or better than their old housing.

In order to have a life equal to or better than the old place, it is not only about living conditions and infrastructure, but also about choosing a resettlement location, choosing a location for both living and production, which is very important, suitable for customs and practices, cultural identity, suitable for the community, suitable for the nation.

"Thus, the local government must decide how to resettle, then it will need to consult and dialogue with the people to decide on resettlement. In the long term, it is necessary to ensure the livelihood of the people. This issue in the law provisions, the drafting committee will also try to make it more specific as the opinions of the delegates", Minister Dang Quoc Khanh clearly stated.

NGUYEN THAO