According to a report of the State audit, the authorities of Hanoi, HCM City and three provinces of Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Lao Cai, together with Cam Ranh town in KhanhHoa province and Sam Son city in ThanhHoa province, had committed wrongdoings in land use and management.

The State audit reported that the approval or adjustment of land projects in those localities were of “weak quality” as many of the projects failed to meet expectations and were not developed based on the locality’s urban master plan.  

The projects were mostly found to have illegally increased the number of floors and apartments, which led to a hike in the population density in the areas, causing huge pressure on transportation, health care and education, the report said.

Authorities in those localities also failed to organise land auctions and instead hand-picked investors to hand over land for investment.

The State audit report has asked the government to collect more than 8.3 trillion VND as extra land fee of the audited projects.-VNA