80 years of land management: Removing long-standing 'bottlenecks'

Removing the "bottlenecks"

Throughout its 80-year journey of establishment and development, Vietnam's land management sector has always faced a dual challenge: ensuring effective governance while flexibly creating land funds to serve socio-economic development. One of the strategic solutions to remove these long-standing "bottlenecks" has been the establishment and consolidation of land fund development organizations, aiming to ensure that the State proactively secure land resources, manage them transparently and publicly, and limit negatives and corruption in land allocation and leasing.

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According to the 2013 Land Law, provinces and municipalities are required to establish Land Fund Development Organizations under their Departments of Natural Resources and Environment. This unit has the function of creating, developing, managing, and utilizing land funds; organizing compensation, support, and resettlement; transferring land-use rights from organizations, households, and individuals; conducting land-use rights auctions; and providing other related services.

Land fund development organizations, established in provinces and municipalities, implement the crucial task of creating clean land funds for auctioning land-use rights. They also play an important role and actively and effectively participate in implementing compensation and support for land acquisition to serve local projects and works in accordance with regulations. Adding the function of creating clean land funds aims to limit land allocation by direct appointment, thereby reducing negatives and corruption in the land sector.

Practical implementation in recent years has shown that the Land Fund Development Organization and Land Development Fund models have quickly proven effective. In Quang Binh, in 2022 alone, 61 land fund development projects for auction were financed through the Land Development Fund, with total disbursement reaching VND 792.6 billion. As a result, the province's land-related revenues surged to VND 4,881 billion in 2022, up more than 52% compared to 2021. By the end of 2022, the cumulative total reached VND 5,344.6 billion, of which VND 5,019 billion was contributed to the state budget, creating a vital resource for local socio-economic development.

In Quang Tri, the Land Fund Development Center was assigned a target of VND 2,050 billion in revenue from land-use rights auctions for the 2021–2025 period and has achieved VND 1,821.8 billion, reaching 88.9% of the target. The Center has also contributed to the development of modern, well-planned urban areas, creating highlights for Dong Ha City, meeting demand for residential and service land, and supporting urban improvement and sustainable development.

These figures provide clear evidence: when properly organized, land funds are not merely public assets requiring strict management, but they also serve as crucial resources for economic development, significantly boosting the budget and improving people's livelihoods.

Enhancing institutional frameworks and strengthening organizational structures

Recently, the institutionalization of the Central Committee's Resolution No. 18-NQ/TW on land policy and law reforms, together with the 2024 Land Law, has laid a solid foundation for consolidating the organizational structure and operational mechanisms of Land Fund Development Organizations and Land Development Funds.

According to Decree 102/2024/ND-CP, from August 1, 2024, Land Fund Development Centers will operate as public non-business units under the People's Committees at the provincial (or district, depending on the locality) level, with legal entity status, their own seal, and a separate bank account.

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The Center has been assigned a series of key functions, including: formulating and implementing projects to create land funds for auctioning land-use rights; organizing compensation, support, and resettlement when the State recovers land, particularly land for ethnic minority communities; developing land price tables and determining specific land prices as required by management agencies; investing in the construction of resettlement land funds serving socio-economic development; conducting land-use rights auctions and short-term land leasing; providing land-related services in accordance with regulations; and engaging in joint ventures and partnerships with organizations and individuals to effectively utilize land funds.

The restructuring of the model, along with granting financial and personnel autonomy, has enabled Land Fund Development Centers to serve as flexible bridges between state policies and local realities, ensuring that land-related decisions are implemented quickly, efficiently, and transparently.

At the same time, the Land Development Fund continues to play the role of a financial "midwife," helping localities proactively secure capital for compensation and site clearance, thus preventing project delays due to lack of funds. Decree 104/2024/ND-CP on the Land Development Fund has completed the legal framework, allowing local governments to allocate budgets appropriately and mobilize additional lawful capital, ensuring the feasibility of project implementation.

It is evident that after 80 years of establishment and development, Vietnam's land management sector has gradually modernized, transforming from manual paper-based records to digital data management and from a fragmented mechanism to a unified, centralized model. In this journey, Land Fund Development Organizations and Land Development Funds have emerged as effective tools for the State to proactively regulate, allocate, and efficiently utilize land resources.

In 2024, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (now the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment) requested the People's Committees of provinces and municipalities to decide on the establishment of Land Fund Development Centers in accordance with Clause 1, Article 14, and Clause 15, Article 112 of Decree 102/2024/ND-CP, to be completed before August 1, 2025.