In many localities in Hanoi, the management and use of public agricultural land has revealed shortcomings such as public land being leased beyond the prescribed time limit; being encroached upon and used for the wrong purpose; the auction of land lease rights - bidding for land cannot be carried out; the land is no longer capable of being cultivated..., the delay in putting the land into use, causing waste and loss of budget revenue.
General Secretary To Lam has repeatedly directed and emphasized several forms of waste, including waste of natural resources; waste of public assets due to ineffective management and use, waste of projects using a lot of land and water resources... Moreover, the General Secretary believes that waste also causes a decline in people's trust in the Party and State, creates invisible barriers in socio-economic development, and misses development opportunities for the country.
From the above perspective, the VNA reporters have conducted in-depth research and written 3 articles on the situation of public agricultural land being abandoned or "transformed" during use. Along with that is the confusion of the government, the slowness in putting land into cultivation and production as well as the fear of making mistakes of officials and proposed and explained solutions to revive the value of public agricultural land as it is.
Lesson 1: Abandoned rice fields and honey fields
In previous years, public agricultural land was managed by the commune-level government, contracted or leased to households for agricultural production and aquaculture on a yearly or multi-year basis. From this land source, many households had cultivated areas to develop their household economy; local authorities had a stable source of budget revenue. However, in Hanoi, due to agricultural production conditions not being the same as before, many areas of public agricultural land considered "beautiful" are being abandoned or even if they want to put them into use according to regulations, they still face many difficulties.
"Nice" land for grass to grow
Along the fertile Red River are the guava and green vegetable fields of the people in the suburbs of Hanoi. Nowadays, due to ineffective agricultural production, some households have abandoned their fields and switched to other more effective production activities such as: service business, fishing ponds; restaurants, outdoor entertainment venues. With the above approach, the economic value of the land brought to the people is much higher. However, in terms of regulations, public agricultural land and riverside alluvial land used for purposes other than agricultural purposes is a violation of land regulations. Many localities have launched campaigns to clear violations, but then still do not know how to use public agricultural land effectively, so they leave it fallow.
Taking us to the field, Mr. Vu Phuong Dong, Chairman of the People's Committee of Giang Bien Ward, Long Bien District, pointed to a square plot of land of about 1,000 m2 located next to the flat asphalt Red River dike. The prime location made the tenant of this plot of land convert it into a restaurant, but Giang Bien Ward cleared it out at the end of 2022. Currently, the plot of land is abandoned, overgrown with grass. To manage it, Giang Bien Ward has fenced off the side adjacent to the dike. Anyone passing by feels sorry for the "rice fields and honey fields", beautiful land abandoned.
In another situation, Hop Tien commune, My Duc district (Hanoi) has 89 plots with 544,966.1 m2 of public agricultural land, scattered in 7 villages. Previously, these land areas were allocated to households for agricultural production or fish farming. According to regulations, each year, people assigned public agricultural land must pay from 60 - 120 kg of rice/sao. However, from January 1, 2023 to now, many land areas have expired but have not been rented by people.
This reality was explained by Mr. Nguyen Dinh Chat, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Hop Tien Commune, that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, households raising livestock and producing agricultural products were affected and suffered losses, so they changed their occupations. Many households were no longer interested in agricultural production; they returned the rented land to the People's Committee of the commune. In order for public agricultural land not to be left vacant, the commune organized a bidding but lacked participants to submit bidding documents. Because it was not possible to re-organize the bidding, for households using public land, Hop Tien Commune could only temporarily collect the land at the previous "cheap" unit price.
Due to the inability to lease out, local budget revenue is also affected. Data from the People's Committee of Hop Tien Commune shows that if in 2020 the commune collected 365 million VND from leasing public agricultural land, by 2024 it will only be 126 million VND.
Meanwhile, in Thuan My commune, Ba Vi district, there are difficulties when there are 10 public agricultural land plots, with an area of 3,000 m2 or more, which will be auctioned, but are stuck with costs related to documents, procedures, consulting, measurement, etc. Chairman of Thuan My commune People's Committee Nguyen Van Dien said that to auction, there must be a clean site, while many plots have difficulty liquidating assets on the land. With large plots of land, the auction may be favorable, but with small, interspersed plots that are difficult to cultivate, the auction of land use rights is not easy. Mr. Dien pointed out that the revenue from auctioning public agricultural land is not enough to cover expenses, because the procedure cannot skip any step, similar to the process of auctioning residential land use rights, so it is very costly.
Using public agricultural land "0 VND"
My Duc District is considered to have the largest public agricultural land fund in the city with approximately 2,000 hectares. According to Mr. Tran Quoc Sinh, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of My Duc District, from January 2023 to September 2024, the progress of public agricultural land auctions in the area did not meet the set requirements. The area has 38 land plots eligible for auction, but up to 14 land plots failed to be auctioned because there were no participants.
In Ba Vi district, by the end of 2023, there will be 773,311 hectares of public agricultural land; of which, approximately 100 hectares are waiting for "ownership". This means that the above land is small and interspersed but has not been contracted to individuals for agricultural purposes, but the People's Committees of the communes are still managing it waiting for auction.
If in mountainous districts such as Ba Vi and My Duc, public agricultural land is "unused" and has not found an owner to use it, it is a great waste, then in places with "golden" land such as Long Bien and Ha Dong, the land is left unused, which is even more pitiful. Specifically, Duong Noi ward, Ha Dong district (Hanoi) has 1,157 hectares of public agricultural land, but since 2015 until now, it has not been able to be leased.
According to Mr. Bui Huy Quang, Chairman of Duong Noi Ward People's Committee, since the village was converted into a city, a series of housing projects and constructions have been invested in the area. During the implementation process, many projects did not reclaim all public agricultural land. As a result, the remaining small area of 100 - 150 m2 is scattered in many fields. Moreover, the above land plots have poor soil quality, the irrigation system is broken, and cannot be used for production. It is also a fact that determining the location of land plots in the field is very difficult due to the current situation. Currently, in Duong Noi, some households renting land to grow peach trees have broken the system of embankments and embankments and arbitrarily used it for the adjacent public agricultural land fund that the ward is managing but without any additional costs.
Using public agricultural land for "zero dong" is also a reality in Phu Lam ward (Ha Dong). According to the reporter's investigation, from 1999 to 2004, the brick kiln pit area in Residential Group No. 6 (Phu Lam) had an area of over 2,000 m2, and was contracted by the People's Committee of the commune to renovate agricultural land for 1 household with a total output of 363 kg of rice/year. However, from 2007 to now, the users of the above land area have not had to pay any fees to the local government. Meanwhile, on October 18, according to the reporter's records, the above land is being used as a place for food and beverage business. Here, there are level 4 houses with tiled roofs; prefabricated houses used for business purposes.
Similarly, in 2007, Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong was one of many households that rented public pond land from Vien Son commune (Son Tay town). Over the years, agricultural production was not suitable; the rented pond area was adjacent to residential land, so in 2010, Ms. Phuong built and installed a temporary house for food business with an area of 205 m2 on the pond land of Vien Son commune. According to Ms. Phuong, from 2021, the family does not have to pay land use fees, waiting to re-sign the contract from indefinite to term. However, since then, no contract has been re-signed.
Son Tay Town has issued a document requesting Ms. Phuong to dismantle the installation and construction on public agricultural land. However, according to the reporter's observation on October 30, Ms. Phuong has only dismantled the roof area, which is a small part of the violation, the rest is still being used for food and beverage business. It can be seen that Hanoi's public agricultural land is in a mess, existing in many different forms. The fact that the land is "common" and is slow to be put into use means that public agricultural land can be abandoned, causing waste of resources; even being encroached upon, transformed, used for the wrong purpose, and local leaders are complicit in violations.
Lesson 2: Major consequences of budget loss
According to VNA
Source: https://doanhnghiepvn.vn/kinh-te/chong-lang-phi-dat-dai-bai-1-bo-xoi-ruong-mat-bi-bo-hoang/20250110102751805
Comment (0)