In some cases,  information has leaked out and collusion between organizers and auction participants has occurred.

Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Le Cong Thanh said at a Government press conference on April 4 that over the last two years, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused disruption of domestic and global supply chains, thus affecting investment and production. That is why investors have chosen to inject their money into land and gold, considering this a safe shelter.

The 2020-2021 period was the time for localities, ministries and branches to build their development plans, and investors exploited the opportunity to collect land and carry out land lot allocation for sale to seek illegal profits.

Thanh said that land price escalations in some localities have adverse effects. It can lead to decreased advantages in  attracting investments, and can damage land-use plans in localities.

Thanh said that some localities do not strictly follow procedures when organizing land auctions. In some cases, information leaks out, and organizers and auction participants join forces to manipulate the prices. 

The management of land-use rights and property auctions is a task of many ministries and branches.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MONRE) in March 2021 sent a dispatch to local people’s committees, recommending that local authorities strictly control real estate projects, especially real estate to be built in the future, and control real estate project transfers to ensure that the process is done according to regulations on land, investment and real estate business.

Localities should also publicize information about land-use planning so that people can access official information. This will help avoid speculation and land price inflation.

Localities also need to apply measures to manage land after land-use plans are approved so that plans can be implemented in the most effective way.

The ministry has also given recommendations to localities about land-use right transfers, and changes in land-use purpose that will help collect tax from real estate transactions; about control of fabricated land transactions; and about control of the split of land plots, and the sanctioning of behavior of not putting land to use or being tardy in using land.

In addition, localities need to take the initiative in creating ‘clean’ land and designing land-use plans.

MONRE said the property auction law needs to be reviewed and amended by setting up specific regulations on land-use right auctions so as to prevent the corrupt use of loopholes in order to engage in land speculation and push land prices up.

The ministry has organized inspection tours to localities and has cooperated with relevant ministries and branches (Ministry of Justice, State Bank of Vietnam) and localities to better manage auction activities.

Huong Quynh