Conference to comment on the draft Decree on sea encroachment activities

On the afternoon of April 3, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha chaired a conference to contribute ideas to the draft Decree on sea encroachment activities. The conference was held in person and online, connecting with 28 coastal provinces and cities.

Attending the conference at Ninh Binh bridge were comrade Nguyen Cao Son, member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; representatives of leaders of relevant departments and branches; leaders of the Provincial Border Guard Command; leaders of Kim Son District People's Committee.

The draft Decree regulates land reclamation activities for the purpose of socio-economic development, environmental protection, natural disaster prevention and response to climate change; it does not regulate land reclamation activities for national defense and security purposes to protect sovereignty and national interests when performing national defense and security tasks in Vietnam's seas and islands.

The important contents of the Decree are: Planning and land use plans for sea areas identified for sea reclamation; establishment, appraisal and approval of sea reclamation investment projects or sea reclamation items of investment projects; land allocation, land lease, allocation of sea areas identified for sea reclamation; acceptance of completed sea reclamation; determination of land use fees and land rent for sea reclamation areas; issuance of certificates of land use rights, house ownership rights and other assets attached to sea reclamation land; regulations on transitional handling for cases where applications for sea area allocation have been submitted before the effective date of this Decree.

At the conference, the representative of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment reported on the receipt and explanation of comments from Government members on the draft Decree. Accordingly, in Article 8 on determining land use fees and land rents, receiving comments from the Minister of Industry and Trade and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the drafting agency changed the phrase "according to the surplus method" to "in cases where the surplus method is applied" to ensure the principle of determining land prices according to the provisions of the law on land.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment also explained and clarified a number of contents related to the time of determining land prices to calculate land use fees and land rents; the handling of land reclamation costs; transitional regulations for land reclamation investment projects or investment projects with land reclamation items that have been approved, decided, and permitted to be implemented before the effective date of this Decree to ensure inheritance, stability, continuity, and ensure the rights and legitimate interests of organizations and individuals in land reclamation activities...

After listening to the report, representatives of relevant units, ministries and branches all affirmed that the issuance of the Decree on sea encroachment activities is urgent and necessary, and should be issued soon. Delegates also focused on discussing, clarifying and agreeing on a number of issues with different opinions. Some delegates expressed the need to consider the regulation of publicizing information on sea encroachment projects internationally and suggested extending the information disclosure period to 1 month instead of 15 days as in the draft. Regarding land valuation methods, it should be generally regulated according to the valuation methods prescribed by law, not specifically stated...

Concluding the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha emphasized that the development of the Decree on sea encroachment must be strict, feasible, synchronous, and consistent with the specialized legal system; decentralization and delegation of authority must be linked with the responsibility of management, inspection, and supervision according to specific criteria and standards. At the same time, it is necessary to simplify administrative procedures to optimize the processing time of ministries, branches, and localities, reduce costs and time for investors, etc.

The Deputy Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to fully absorb the opinions of ministries, branches, localities, and experts, and promptly complete the draft Decree to submit to the Prime Minister for promulgation.

Nguyen Luu-Hoang Hiep

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