HÀ NỘI — Deputy Prime Minister Vương Đình Huệ has ordered inspections on some 60 real estate projects this year over suspicions of land misuse by equitised enterprises.

The projects have showed signs of violations of the Land Law, and their calculation of land use levy and land rental prices is not close to market prices, causing losses to the State budget, according to the Ministry of Finance (MoF).  

The Deputy Prime Minister asked the MoF to provide the Government Inspectorate with a list of the properties and their registered land use purpose for the inspections.

He also requested the Ministry of Environment (MONRE) collaborate with concerned ministries and authorities to propose amendments to a regulation on the auction of land use rights in the 2013 Land Law, in accordance with regulations on land acquisition.

Twenty-five of the 60 properties to be inspected are in Hà Nội, 13 in HCM City, and the remaining 22 are in seven other localities.

The MoF has listed a number of properties in the capital city that have not paid their full taxes to the State.

The villa project Pandora, located at No 53 on Triều Vũ Street in Thanh Xuân District, has a land use debt of some VNĐ145 billion (US$6.4 million), while the Hồng Hà Tower apartment complex, located at No 89 on Thịnh Liệt Street in Hoàng Mai District owes VNĐ175 billion ($7.7 million).

The Orchard Garden apartment and office complex, located at No128 on Hồng Hà Street in HCM City, drew public attention last year for carrying out construction without permission and not paying taxes. Its land use value has been identified to be some VNĐ123 billion ($5.4 million) at the moment, an equivalent of VNĐ28.5 billion ($1.3 million) per sqm. 

Reports by MONRE show several State-owned properties in Hoàn Kiếm, Tây Hồ, Hai Bà Trưng and Hoàng Mai districts whose functions were altered have been abandoned in the last five years.

A number of enterprises purposefully omitted the value of their land in prime locations when calculating their enterprise value during equitisation, causing public anger, according to reports.

The Government’s Inspectorate decided in March to conduct a 70-day inspection on a number of issues related to land use in Hà Nội. The inspection started on March 7.

Twenty-three other official inspections and six backup ones on altering functions of State-owned lands and properties will be conducted this year in HCM City, central Khánh Hòa Province and coastal Đà Nẵng City. — VNS