 |
The closing ceremony of the 5th plenary session of the 11th Party Central Committee
(Photo: Tri Dung/VNA) |
(VOVworld) - The 5th plenary session of the Party Central Committee which concluded on May 15th have made with major decisions relating to land policy and law. The Land Law will be revised to facilitate the efficient distribution and use of land while protecting the environment. VOV editor Thu Hoa reports.
Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong says the Party Central Committee realizes that land management and use is a complicated issue, but one of great social and political importance. It’s a sensitive issues tied to the achievements of the revolution, and years of class struggles. Ten years of implementing the Party’s Resolution 7 on land policy and law has brought numerous achievements in effectively using land resources for national industrialization and modernization. However, many inadequacies in the State’s management of land remain. Nguyen Thi Thanh lives in Gia Loc District, Hai Duong province ‘I find that there are still many unclear regulations in the Land Law and the officials in charge have inadequate knowledge and lack responsibility. I’d like to see the Land Law revised so that it will be more practical and citizens will not have so much trouble complying with it’.
The Party Central Committee agreed unanimously that land is a precious national asset, the source of the people’s livelihood, owned by the people with the State acting as their manager. Party leader Trong attempted to clarify the State’s management rights with regard to land pricing, authorization of land use, and reclamation of land to serve national security and defense, public interest, and socio-economic development. Party leader Trong says ‘The new point of this meeting is that we are better aware of outlining clearer stipulations on, and better enforcement of, the difference between the rights of land ownership and the right of land use, and between the responsibilities of the state and the responsibilities of land users for each kind of land. Land use right is a special type of goods and property distinct from the right of ownership. Those who are allowed to use land assigned or hired by the state either long-term or for a limited time will enjoy certain rights under the law in force and will be compensated when the state reclaims the land. These people must abide by the land law on registration of land use rights, master-planning, and land reclamation’.
Mr. Trong called for immediate amendments to the Land Law and improvement of related legal documents to overcome current shortcomings and weaknesses. Tran Quang Huy is a lecturer at the Hanoi Law University ‘The revision of the 2003 Land Law is extremely important. The relationship between land and markets has changed greatly. There are now a lot of disputes and denunciations. The interests of land users have not been protected. In my opinion, we should pay more attention to land ownership, and make a clearer distinction between land ownership and land use right considering land use right as an ownership right over a private asset of the people assigned or hired by the state’.
The Party Central Committee asked the Government to complete a legal framework on land assignment and agricultural leases for the National Assembly’s approval. But lease durations should be extended to give farmers a stronger attachment to farm production. And the terms of agricultural land use right should match conditions in each region to facilitate the establishment of large material production zones for national industrialization and modernization.