Clean data - Bright trust [Part 3]: 'A test' of local governance

During the 90-day land data cleansing campaign, several wards and communes in Hanoi have faced challenges in collecting information on land-use right certificates and home ownership certificates. However, under the strong direction of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment and the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Environment, these issues have been addressed with appropriate solutions to ensure progress.

Collecting certificates amid land-use overlaps

Hanoi currently has more than 27,000 hectares of forest and forestry land, where overlapping boundaries between residential and forest land remain unresolved, affecting local livelihoods. The city has set a high determination to untangle these overlaps across 25 forested communes during this campaign.

Bài liên quan

Clean Data - Bright Trust: [Part 1] Digital transformation for the people

Clean data - Bright trust [Part 2]: A foundation for transparent land governance

In 1997, the former Ha Tay Provincial People’s Committee issued Mr. Pham Tien Dung (Dong Tam hamlet, Ba Vi commune, Hanoi) a land-use right certificate for over 4,500 m2 of land he had reclaimed since 1963 and lived on stably since 1980. The certificate recognized multiple land categories: residential, housing, and garden. However, local authorities recently stated that his land now falls within the designated forest area, complicating the data collection process.

“We provided photocopies of our land-use certificate and ID to the village leader for submission to the working group. However, we’re unsure how the data will be updated. I hope this campaign will help separate our land from the forest area and ensure our data meet the ‘accurate, complete, clean, live’ principles,” Mr. Dung emphasized.

Ba Vi commune was newly formed from the merger of three former communes: Minh Quang, Khanh Thuong and Ba Vi, with nearly 1,500 hectares of forest and forestry land, of which 500 hectares are overlapping areas. The commune has completed its review, reporting overlapping residential-forest plots to the task force for guidance and resolution.

Mr. Nguyen Manh Phuong, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Environment, stated that the city is at the peak of its land data cleansing campaign. Land-use certificates within forest areas are still being recorded in the general database. Once forest boundary demarcations are finalized, each parcel’s information will be updated accordingly. Other land types, forest and forestry land, will also be added to Hanoi’s land database.

Separating overlapping forest land is not merely a technical issue, it is a "test" of each locality’s land governance capacity. Every day of delay means more inaccuracies in data and more citizens’ rights left "hanging". Completing this separation is essential for Hanoi to build an accurate, comprehensive land database to serve planning, conservation, and sustainable forest development.

Challenges in collecting data on apartment buildings

Hanoi currently has around two million apartments, making the collection of housing-related land data a significant pressure for local authorities.

In Hoang Mai ward, with 80 apartment buildings totaling 60,000 units, resident Ms. Nguyen Mai Hoa (H1 Building, Hoang Mai ward) shared that her family recently received a notice from the ward People’s Committee requesting photocopies of their apartment ownership certificate and ID card for the campaign. However, the attached instruction specified that only data from “land-use certificates and ID cards of owners whose properties are not yet included in the land database” would be collected.

“I checked with the task group leader, who told me all certificate holders should still submit copies. That left me confused; there’s no clear explanation on whether apartment owners are required to declare for this data-cleansing campaign or not,” Ms. Hoa said.

In Cau Giay ward, Mr. Luong Mau Hung, Vice Chairman of the Ward People’s Committee, explained that the area includes 56 apartment buildings with 20,000 units. According to him, most ownership certificates have already been digitized by the Cau Giay branch of the Land Registration Office, and newly issued data are directly updated into the system.

Mr. Pham Van Tinh, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Land Registration Office, said that thanks to continuous training and technical support from the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, local cadastral officers and data teams quickly mobilized and completed a large workload. As of now, the city has collected information for over 40% of all land parcels. Once verified, data are sent to the Land Registration Office for processing, standardization, and integration into the centralized management system.

For apartments and urban residential land, local authorities collect data proactively. In areas where data are already available, the Land Registration Office updates directly from its system. The Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Environment continues to supervise, support, and coordinate closely with localities to promptly address emerging issues.

According to current regulations, apartment owners or users only need to submit documents when requested by local authorities for additional verification. Most ownership data have already been digitized in the national land database. However, discrepancies such as incorrect apartment numbers, ownership names, or mismatched ID codes, due to transfers, reissuance years, or clerical errors, still need to be updated. In such cases, local People’s Committees will notify residents to cross-check or provide copies of relevant documents for verification. Thus, explaining procedures clearly, accurately comparing records, and consistently organizing data updates remain major challenges for local leaders and cadastral officers.

In practice, the high rate of apartment rentals and frequent ownership transfers, sometimes involving absentee owners, also pose significant obstacles to collecting and "cleaning" land and housing data.

The land data cleansing campaign aims to build an information system that is “accurate - complete - clean - live - unified - shared”. This effort will help complete the national land database, simplify administrative procedures, and ultimately benefit citizens by making property-related rights and obligations more transparent and convenient. Good cooperation between residents and local governments during this campaign will enable the smoother implementation of citizens’ rights to use, own, and manage land and housing in the years ahead.