A national survey on land use will be conducted in 2014 and maps drawn in order to evaluate the management and use of the land resource, the Prime Minister instructed in his recent Directive No 21/CT-TTg.

The PM requires the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, other ministries and ministerial-level agencies, governmental agencies, and People’s Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities nationwide to carry out the task and make accurate assessment of the land use situation from communal to national levels.

The assessment will serve as the foundation for working out mechanisms and policies to strengthen state management over land and enhance land use efficiency at all levels for the 2016-2020 period.

The survey will collect data on total natural land area, the acreage of each type of land and specific groups of land users at all administrative levels, with special attention to be paid to rice cultivation acreage and land use in industrial parks, industrial clusters, economic zones and hi-tech zones.

Land users subject to the survey include organisations, households, individuals, communities, religious establishments, foreign diplomatic organisations, foreign-invested enterprises and overseas Vietnamese.

The survey and drawing of maps on land use will be conducted simultaneously nationwide from now to December 31. Communes are required to complete the work and submit reports before June 1, 2015, while districts must submit reports before July 15 and provinces, before September 1 the same year. National reports and maps will be completed by November 1, 2015.-VNA