NA Deputy Tô Văn Tám from Kon Tum Province at Monday NA agenda discussing the draft Land Law (revised). — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — National Assembly deputies on Monday discussed the revised Land Law draft, paying much attention to land recovery, compensation and land price issues.

Deputy Tô Văn Tám from the Central Highland province of Kon Tum said that land recovery was a complicated and concerning issue as it affected every socio-economic field and people's life.

The Government's annual report shows that land-related complaints, denunciations and land acquisition for socio-economic development account for nearly 70 per cent of the total number of complaints and denunciations.

"People may accept to sacrifice their rights or suffer losses if the acquisition of such land is for national defence, security or economic development for the benefit of the community or the State. However, they will not accept land acquisition that only benefits individuals or groups of people if compensation prices are low," he said.

Tám said that the amendments and supplements to the Land Law should clarify the content of land acquisition for economic development for national and public interests.

However, he said national and public interests are often not fixed, adding that there are risks of conflicts or abuse of power, causing frustration among the people.

He said that land recovery should be allowed for defence and security purposes, strategic socio-economic development projects, and regulating the development of a region, a province, the whole country or public works.

In economic and commercial development projects that mainly benefit investors, the investors must negotiate with the land users about the land use right transfer or capital contribution with land use rights.

Deputy Trần Nhật Minh from the central province of Nghệ An said that under the draft, regulations related to land recovery were still inadequate and had not yet resolved the harmonious relationship between the State, the investor and the land user.

He said that it was a must to clarify conditions and criteria to determine projects for the national benefits/public benefits and commercial projects, then clarify compensation plans to ensure land recovery takes place transparently.

Deputy Phan Thái Bình from the central province of Quảng Nam said that regarding land use rights, compensation policies must be based on the agreement between investors and people.

However, it was necessary to have a mechanism for State agencies to manage and oversee the compensation agreements.

"It's difficult to identify a land price that is approaching market prices, so it's needed to have strict regulations on criteria/conditions for a price determining council to refer," Bình said.

Regarding compensation pricing, Bình highly appreciated the approach of compensating for houses on land based on the new price of the construction unit.

"This is a very progressive approach and should be promoted and strictly regulated in the law," he said.

Regarding regulations on land prices, deputy Đặng Bích Ngọc from the northern province of Hòa Bình said wrongdoing and corruption in land valuation in some localities was partly due to inadequacies in determining land prices.

She suggested that there should be an independent and professional organisation in developing land price lists to ensure transparency and avoid negative impacts when submitting to competent authorities for approval of the annual land price list.

Deputy Trần Văn Khải from the northern province of Hà Nam said that National Assembly should organise a specialised meeting for an in-depth discussion on the law project due to its importance.

The revised Law on Inspection passed

The National Assembly passed the revised Law on Inspection on Monday morning, effective from July 2023.

One of the new points of the revised law is that General Departments and Departments under ministries are allowed to establish specialised inspection agencies.

The specialised inspection agencies of the General Departments/Departments are established in three cases: according to the provisions of law; under the provisions of international treaties to which Việt Nam is a signatory; at the General Departments, Departments that have a large, complex and important scope of State management according to the Government's regulations.

The revised law also clarifies the time to issue inspections conclusion. According to Article 78, within 15 days after receiving the draft inspection conclusion, the inspection decision issuer shall sign and promulgate the conclusion and take responsibility for the conclusions and recommendations. Heads of State management agencies at the same level shall have to urge and inspect to ensure the issuance of inspection conclusions on time as prescribed.

With the draft inspection conclusions on cases related to national security and defence, important and complicated cases under the direction and monitoring of the Central Steering Committee on anti-corruption, the provincial anti-corruption committee or the head of the State management agency at the provincial level or agencies of the same level asking for a reviewal, the inspection decision maker must send written report to the head of the State management agency of the same level.

Within 30 days of receiving the written report, the head of the State management agency at the same level shall give written opinions on the reported contents.

If the head of the State management agency does not respond or has no opinion different from the draft inspection conclusion, the inspection decision issuer shall immediately issue the inspection conclusion.

In case the head of the State management agency at the same level has written opinions requesting supplementation or clarification of the draft inspection conclusion, within 30 days from the date of receipt of such document, the inspection decision maker must complete and issue inspection conclusions. — VNS