Removing land "bottlenecks" to attract investment

Contractor for construction of runway, taxiway, and apron items of Dien Bien Airport Expansion Investment and Construction Project.

In fact, in recent times, the province has attracted many investors (DanKo Group, CME, Vietnam Industrial Park Investment Joint Stock Company, Dai An Investment Joint Stock Company, Agroup Investment Group Joint Stock Company...) to come and learn, survey, and propose to invest in a number of projects. However, after learning, signing investment commitments, and even making investments, some investors have not been able to implement their projects due to difficulties in accessing land and problems with site clearance.

Muong Thanh Market and Trade Service Project in Dien Bien Phu City, in 2022, the province attracted an investor, NQT Quang Ninh Trading and Construction Joint Stock Company, to implement the project through bidding. The investment capital of the project is about 193 billion VND; the implementation period is 2 years (from the third quarter of 2022 to the fourth quarter of 2023 to put the project into operation). However, since the time the Provincial People's Committee approved the investor in Decision No. 988/QD-UBND dated June 3, 2022, the project has not been able to start construction of the items. The reason is that up to now, the land acquisition work is still being carried out by the competent authority to review the origin of land use and the time of asset creation of 5 households. At the same time, it is difficult to determine the time of creation of the assets and structures because the land was previously recovered from Him Lam Cooperative and handed over to the Provincial Industrial Project Management Board but has not been implemented. Therefore, there is no clean land for investors to carry out the project.

The Muong Thanh Market and Trade Service Project is not the only case that has been delayed due to land issues. According to the Provincial People's Committee's report assessing the results of the PCI index in 2022, Dien Bien's land access index has improved (6.77 points), up 0.52 points compared to 2021, but is still quite modest compared to some provinces and cities across the country. Although support for businesses in accessing land has been directed, the change has not met expectations.

There have been many innovations in supporting businesses, but the results have not been much; the resolution of difficulties and obstacles for some businesses has not been really proactive, sometimes lacking in determination. Compensation, site clearance, resettlement arrangements, and implementation of land procedures still face many difficulties due to dependence on many objective factors; coordination between levels and sectors is not very effective. Specifically, the time limit for handling land records is longer than the posted time limit or prescribed in regulations, accounting for 75%; the rate of businesses having to delay or cancel business plans due to difficulties in implementing administrative procedures on land is 50%; meanwhile, the number of officials receiving records and handling administrative procedures not providing detailed and complete instructions is still 26%...

To remove land "bottlenecks" and create favorable conditions for investors, the province directs relevant departments, branches, and district-level People's Committees to publicly disclose information on planning and land use plans to organizations and individuals in a complete, quick, and convenient manner. Complete mechanisms and policies on compensation, support, and resettlement when the State reclaims land and conducts site clearance to create favorable conditions for businesses; shorten the time for determining actual land prices when the State allocates land; build a land price framework close to actual market prices. Simplify administrative procedures on land and organize implementation in a public, transparent, and correct manner. Proactively advise and propose the Provincial People's Committee to complete mechanisms, policies, and regulations on management, exploitation, and effective use of resources and land; appropriate mechanisms and policies to create clean land funds to facilitate production and business. Timely grasp and resolve difficulties and problems in the process of implementing tasks to support citizens and businesses.

Implementing synchronous measures, from the beginning of 2023 to now, investment attraction has had positive changes. The Provincial People's Committee has decided to approve investment policies for 12 projects in the fields of hydropower, trade - services, agriculture - forestry, construction materials, residential areas with a total registered investment capital of more than 3,610 billion VND. The Department of Planning and Investment has granted investment registration certificates to 11 projects; in total, the province has 207 projects granted investment registration certificates and investment policy decisions with a total registered capital of more than 45,722 billion VND.

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