VietNamNet Bridge – Due to gaps in the Investment Law, many industrial zones (IZs) and economic zones (EZs) cannot revoke land of foreign-invested projects that their foreign bosses have left. The question is what is the role of the Ministry of Planning and Investment in such cases?
So far, the bosses of at least 20 foreign-invested businesses of IZs in the southern province of Dong Nai have disappeared. The local authorities, the management boards of IZs and creditors do not know what to do. These foreign firms have stopped running for a long time but their business licenses are still valid, so the local administration cannot revoke their land to give it to others.

This situation also happens in the Dung Quat EZ in the central province of Quang Ngai, where around ten foreign investors have gone away. The province’s Party Secretary Vo Van Thuong has had to instruct the local authorities to revoke land from these idle projects to allocate to other investors.

Vo Van Thanh, vice chief of the management board of the Dong Nai IZs Administration said: “It is the same story for all IZs in Vietnam, that we cannot revoke land from foreign investors who failed to continue investing in their projects and left Vietnam. We do not know how to deal with these projects. We are waiting for instruction from the Ministry of Planning and Investment.”

“Land, workshops, machinery, production lines are visible assets but how about their loans?” Thanh questioned.

He said that the Dong Nai IZs Administration has brought some cases to court in order to revoke land from these projects but the court could not help. Though foreign investors have left Vietnam but their legal status still exists under Vietnam laws and nobody dares to invest in their idle projects. IZ management boards cannot revoke their land either.

It is hopeless for lenders to collect their debts because there is no precedence to judge such cases.

Local governments are helpless in such cases. They have to ask the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s assistance because such cases are not mentioned in the laws.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment can only say to consider and amend the law but it seems to not take action.

Ministry of Planning and Investment is lazy?

Experts on administrative reform all said that the Ministry of Planning and Investment is so passive.

Land is the people’s assets. When this kind of assets is used wastefully, because of reasons that are not stipulated in laws, the laws must be immediately amended on large scale, not for the need of a single province but for the interest of entire people.

“If the law does not cover it, we can rely on the Constitution to benefit the people and the country,” an expert said.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s survey, up to 48,700 companies were dissolved or stopped operating in in January-September period of 2011, up by 21.8 percent over the same period of 2010.

This figure partly reflects the aftermath of the global economic crisis and its impacts on Vietnam. However, the Ministry did not clarify how many of them hired land in IZs and EZs and how many hectares of land that are wasted.

Minister of Planning and Investment Vu Quang Vinh told the media on the sideline of the recent National Assembly session that Vietnam needs to tighten its investment rules, carefully select foreign investor, and inspect foreign-invested firms that report losses but keep expanding their production scale.

However, the gap between words and action is very far. This Ministry seems to be very sluggish.

Many IZ management boards and local governments have reported to this Ministry their problems related to foreign-invested projects which their bosses have left Vietnam quietly, but the Ministry has not had any measure to solve this situation.

The agencies that are responsible for managing land in IZs and EZs are also passive. They do nothing--just wait for the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s instruction and for the law to be amended.

It sounds that they forget the fact that Vietnam’s laws have to run after the life. While the law does not exist, reasonable measures need to be done.

Someone said that land in IZs and EZs is state land so nobody cares about it. If that land is owned by a certain person who leases the land to someone and the tenant does not pay rent, the land owner will end the leasing contract and drive the tenant from his land. This is reasonable!

Many people said about “legal behavior” and law respect but when the law does not created yet and the law does not catch up with the life, we cannot wait for having law.

What solution does the Ministry of Planning and Investment have?

TVN