Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Nguyen Manh Hien has directed the southern province of Vinh Long to speed up the implementation of Vietnam’s new land administration system, known as VLAP, to meet its deadline of late 2015.

Started in 2008, the World Bank-funded project, worth 100 million USD, is meant to facilitate access to land information services by all stakeholders in nine selected provinces, including Vinh Long.

Nguyen The Dung, head of the project, informed Hien at a May 21 working session in the locality that the province has involved its locals in registering, surveying and mapping over 132ha of land, or 92.4 percent of the total.

Vinh Long has also kept an eye on the ongoing sub-contracts, but only 11 out of 22 have been completed and 42 percent of total capital has yet to be disbursed.

Eight land registration offices and 107 wards, towns, and communes have so far received the necessary information technology equipment.

The province has launched 22 technical assistance deals and operated a land database system from the township to provincial levels.

In the coming time, the locality will grant land use certificates to 28 remaining communes in districts of Long Ho and Mang Thit.

VLAP is now underway in Hanoi and the provinces of Hung Yen, Thai Binh, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Khanh Hoa, Tien Giang, Ben Tre and Vinh Long.-VNA