Simplifying land-related administrative reforms and increasing transparency and the accountability of people involved with such deals will help eradicate land-management corruption in Vietnam.
Partipants heard this argument and others at anti-corruption conference on Jan. 19 in the capital.
The statement was made after the Danish and Swedish embassies and the World Bank published two reports concerning recognising and reducing corruption risks in the land management sector in Vietnam.
Director of the World Bank in Vietnam Victoria Kwakwa said fighting against land-related corruption, which is considered to be a big challenge for Vietnam, will take time and effort.
Surveys conducted in Lang Son, Bac Ninh, Binh Dinh and Tien Giang provinces and HCM City showed that 78 percent of the interviewees believed that corruption occurs mostly with land allocation, recovery, compensation and resettlement, of which 38 percent said this type of corruption is very widespread.
About 92 percent of the people interviewed agreed that cases involving the illegal sale of land and illegal land allocation happen in every province.
"Unsuitable land compensation, a shortage of land-related information for the public and the unfriendly attitudes of officials may lead to corruption," said Kwakwa.
Prof Dang Hung Vo, former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, said that the land-related procedures, such as the granting of land ownership certificates, are rather complicated and time consurming.
This encourages people to choose middleman or spend extra fees to make the process faster and more simple, he said.
The survey said that several ministries and localities have posted legal information and procedures on their websites in an effort to promote transparency, but many 5 thers failed to do so.
At the meeting, representatives agreed that changing land management policies would remove the underlying economic interests and make corruption less profitable.
Deputy head of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment's Land Management Directorate Dao Trung Chinh suggested removing unnecessary discretion from authorities will help make corruption more difficult to hide./.
Partipants heard this argument and others at anti-corruption conference on Jan. 19 in the capital.
The statement was made after the Danish and Swedish embassies and the World Bank published two reports concerning recognising and reducing corruption risks in the land management sector in Vietnam.
Director of the World Bank in Vietnam Victoria Kwakwa said fighting against land-related corruption, which is considered to be a big challenge for Vietnam, will take time and effort.
Surveys conducted in Lang Son, Bac Ninh, Binh Dinh and Tien Giang provinces and HCM City showed that 78 percent of the interviewees believed that corruption occurs mostly with land allocation, recovery, compensation and resettlement, of which 38 percent said this type of corruption is very widespread.
About 92 percent of the people interviewed agreed that cases involving the illegal sale of land and illegal land allocation happen in every province.
"Unsuitable land compensation, a shortage of land-related information for the public and the unfriendly attitudes of officials may lead to corruption," said Kwakwa.
Prof Dang Hung Vo, former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, said that the land-related procedures, such as the granting of land ownership certificates, are rather complicated and time consurming.
This encourages people to choose middleman or spend extra fees to make the process faster and more simple, he said.
The survey said that several ministries and localities have posted legal information and procedures on their websites in an effort to promote transparency, but many 5 thers failed to do so.
At the meeting, representatives agreed that changing land management policies would remove the underlying economic interests and make corruption less profitable.
Deputy head of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment's Land Management Directorate Dao Trung Chinh suggested removing unnecessary discretion from authorities will help make corruption more difficult to hide./.
