HCM City collected 16.49 trillion VND (over 712.5 million USD) in fees for changing land-use purposes last year (Photo: VNA) HCM City (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh Citycollected fees of more than 16.49 trillion VND (over 712.5 million USD) lastyear for changing land-use purposes, according to the city’s RegistrationOffice for Land Use Rights.
The office’s director Du Huy Quang said the cityalso collected over 5.38 trillion VND from leasing lands and nearly 6.34trillion VND from land -use fees.
People cannot theoretically own land and have topay fees for “using” land for various purposes like housing, farming and others.
A total of 679,124 applications were processedlast year, 5.15 percent more than the previous year, he said.
Suburban districts such as district 9, Hoc Mon, CuChi, Binh Chanh, and Thu Duc reported the largest numbers of house and landpurchase transactions. Cu Chi topped with 60,000.
According to the office, some of its districtoffices have been facing difficulties like lack of facilities and storage spaceand outdated equipment, making it difficult to keep and preserve files anddocuments.
With rapid urbanisation, they also face majorchallenges with legal issues related to land and housing and the increasingnumber of applications, it said.
Nguyen Toan Thang, Director of the city’sDepartment of Natural Resources and Environment, said the office and itsbranches should enhance administrative reform and coordinate with relevantagencies such as the tax department to quickly process applications fromindividuals and businesses.
He said they should not delay issue of land- andhouse-use rights certificates to residents while also ensuring compliance withthe law and there is no trouble for the public.
They should ensure they have capable staff who canmeet the evolving needs, he added.-VNA
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