A land lot in Đà Nẵng City suspected of relating to foreign ownership. — Photo zingnews.vn

ĐÀ NẴNG — The Department of Natural Resources and Environment of central Đà Nẵng City confirmed that it has not granted land use rights to any foreign individuals.

The confirmation was in response to a question raised by a member of the city’s People’s Council over the accuracy of a media report on foreigners acquiring land use rights under the name of Vietnamese nationals.

Huỳnh Bá Thành, who raised the question, expressed concern that the foreigners’ ownership of land lots located along the coastal areas in Đà Nẵng will pose potential risks to defence and security.

Tô Văn Hùng, director of the city’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment, said according to Vietnamese law, foreign individuals can neither have ownership of land nor rent land lots. They also cannot obtain land use right certificates in Việt Nam.

Foreign-invested businesses can rent the land for a specific time which does not last for more than 50 years to implement their projects.

The law allows the foreign-invested businesses to transfer capital in the form of land use right value, but the companies have to complete the procedure of transferring land use rights in accordance with the law.

Hùng mentioned cases in which foreign company owners are married to Vietnamese nationals. That results in the fact that foreigners invest in land lots that the State handed over to the Vietnamese.

In other cases, foreigners can invest in Vietnamese land lots after Vietnamese companies add capital to foreign businesses.

In those cases, land registration and certification agencies are not authorised to refuse land use right certificates to foreigners who bought land lots in the name of Vietnamese nationals.

Hùng proposed reviewing land regulations detailed in the laws on land, investment, housing, marriage and family to closely monitor foreign investment in the city. — VNS