The 8th meeting of the HCM City Steering Committee for Anti-Corruption and Negativity convened on October 14 to discuss the results of the implementation of resolutions and tasks in the first nine months of the year.

The steering committee has requested agencies and organizations to strengthen propaganda on the content of the article "Fighting waste" by Party Secretary General and President of State To Lam.

The committee emphasized the most important content, including the management of public finance, public assets, planning and use of land, and divestment from state owned enterprises.

Regarding the houses and land of the state ownership, as of June 2024, the city had seized public houses and land at 35 addresses with the total area of 228,000 sq m as agencies and units no longer have demand for use. However, many public houses and land have been left unused over many years, thus causing waste.

A valuable public asset in the city is the 3,790 apartments for re-settlement in Thu Thiem new urban area and Thu Duc City. These are apartments in five apartment buildings. The construction finished many years ago, but the buildings have been left idle.

Since 2018, the city has many times planned to auction the 3,790 apartments, but auctions still cannot be organized. It is expected that agencies will wrap up legal procedures by August 2025 and organize auctions prior to November 2025.

The land plot at No 8-12 Le Duan street in the central business district 1 at the center of the city is called ‘golden land’ with high commercial value, but it has been used as a parking lot for many years. In September 2022, the Civil Judgment Enforcement Agency handed over this land plot to the city People's Committee.

The land plot with an area of 5,000 sq m has a relation with the HCM City former Vice Mayor Nguyen Thanh Tai, who has been accused of ‘turning public land into private land’. After getting back the land, the municipal authorities handed it over to the Center for Land Bank Development and the HCM City Department of Natural Resources and the Environment for management.

Near the land plot is another ‘golden land area’, 6,000 sq m at No 2-4-6 Hai Ba Trung in district 1, which has also been left unused for many years. The land also is related to a criminal case of appropriating public land, tried on appeal by the High People's Court in Hanoi in January 2022. In October 2022, the City Land Fund Development Center was assigned to manage this land.

In 2001, the Southern Food Corporation (Vinafood 2) drew up a plan to re-develop the four land plots into multi-story office buildings and housing buildings for sale and lease.

At first, Vinafood 2 intended to act as the investor of the project, but later it decided to team up with a private company to set up a new legal entity to develop the project. With complicated cooperation transactions, Vinafood 2 illegally transferred the land plot.

Located at the center of the city with four sides facing streets, the advantage that few land plots have, but Phan Dinh Phung Gymnasium at No 8 Vo Van Tan in district 3 has also been left unused. This was one of the first projects in the city developed under the Build Transfer mode, kicked off in 2008.

In early 2017, the gymnasium was removed and the local authorities planned to rebuild it in a project capitalized at VND1.953 trillion, expected to be completed after two years. However, to date, the project still cannot be implemented. The HCM City People’s Committee last May released the decision on shifting the project from BT to public investment project. 

In an effort to strengthen management over public land, the HCM City People’s Committee is following legal procedures to take back the 3.1 hectare land at No152 Tran Phu street in district 5. The land plot faces streets Tran Phu, Le Hong Phong and Tran Thanh Ton.

In 2005, Vinataba (tobacco manufacturer) which had the right to use the land, used the land plot to contribute capital to a private company. The government inspectors have concluded that the capital contribution with the land violated the law. In 2023, the municipal authorities released a decision to take the land back.

Anh Phuong