On the morning of June 21, the National Assembly held a plenary session in the hall to discuss the draft Land Law (amended); results of public consultation on the draft Land Law (amended).

Scene of the National Assembly's discussion session on the draft Land Law (amended) on the morning of June 21.

Eliminate injustice from benefits due to land rent differentials

Speaking at the meeting, delegate Tran Van Khai (Ha Nam delegation) commented that one of the tasks set out in Resolution 18 of the 5th Conference of the 13th Party Central Committee is to perfect the policy mechanism on land finance, research and have a policy to regulate land rent differences, ensuring publicity and transparency.

According to delegate Tran Van Khai, the land rent difference is formed from the change of land use purpose, from low-value land to high-value land, agricultural land is bought, compensated at low prices and then converted to non-agricultural land, residential land, commercial land, and service land with prices ten times higher.

However, according to the delegate, the issue of handling land rent differences for people's land is hiding many injustices in society. "Land belongs to the entire people, people have sacrificed and contributed, handed over their land use rights and assets to the State and investors to build and develop infrastructure and urban areas, contributing to the common development, so they must benefit from investment, urban development and projects. The Party's policy is to resolutely not let people be pushed aside from development, not let anyone be left behind," said the delegate.

Therefore, according to delegates, the revised Land Law this time must eliminate injustice from benefits due to land rent differences, avoid loss of land resources, develop land finance policies, methods for determining land prices and ensure harmony of interests in exploiting land rent differences between the state, investors and people.

Emphasizing that land is the greatest asset of the country, therefore, to unleash potential, maximize the value of land resources, resolutely overcome corruption, negativity, complaints in land management, speculation, and wasteful land use, delegate Tran Van Khai said that it is necessary to properly resolve two issues of land rent and land price differences.

The basis for determining land prices approaching market prices remains vague.

Spending a lot of time commenting on the principles of determining land prices, the Ha Nam delegation said that the provisions in the draft law are not sufficient to determine land prices in real life. The basis for determining land prices close to market prices is still vague.

"Land prices in 2023 will be different from those in 2024. It is very difficult to determine them so that there is no loss. On the other hand, how can we determine land prices that harmonize the interests of the state, investors and people? If we continue with the safe option, the compensation, support and resettlement costs will be too high, making it difficult to attract investors," the delegate wondered.

Delegate Tran Van Khai (Ha Nam delegation) said that to determine land prices close to market prices, reliable market data is needed.

To implement projects and contribute to socio-economic development, delegates suggested that the drafting agency continue to research and complete the draft law on methods for determining land prices according to market principles, ensuring clarity, completeness and comprehensiveness of institutions as required by Resolution 18.

At the same time, delegates suggested that the drafting agency continue to study regulations related to input information to determine land prices, and supplement regulations to digitize input land to collect data on market fluctuations.

"I think that in order to determine land prices approaching market prices, it is necessary to have reliable market data, and the system for collecting information on market land prices must be consistent based on specific legal regulations. When there is a database that ensures legality, the correct price will be determined, thereby compensating for damages correctly, collecting land use fees correctly - that is, harmonizing the interests of the state, investors and people, ensuring publicity, transparency, not causing loss of resources from land and avoiding risks for implementing officials", the delegate analyzed and suggested that the drafting agency continue to research and clearly define the contents related to input information of land prices.

In addition, the draft law provides four methods for determining land prices. Delegate Tran Van Khai said that the more methods of determining land prices the draft law provides, the more difficult it will be to apply.

"If these four methods are applied to the same plot of land, there will be four different results," the delegate said, suggesting that the drafting agency continue to add more specific regulations on methods for determining land prices and principles for determining land prices for the National Assembly to discuss and comment on, ensuring more clarity on this issue.

Delegate Tran Dinh Gia (Ha Tinh delegation) gave comments on supporting training, career conversion and job search for households and individuals when the State reclaims agricultural land.

Accordingly, delegate Tran Dinh Gia proposed to add regulations on support policies for cases where people are past working age (but still directly engaged in agricultural production) and have no land for compensation. Because, in reality, in the above cases, it is difficult to find new jobs and difficult to change careers when agricultural land is reclaimed.  

GRASSLAND