HCMC – Of the total area of public land that the Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG), the Vietnam Forestry Corporation (Vinafor) and the Vietnam National Tea Corporation (Vinatea) were assigned to manage, 18,500 hectares was encroached upon.
Of this, 10,700 hectares of VRG’s land was encroached on, nearly 7,400 hectares of Vinafor’s land and 500 hectares of Vinatea’s land, according to the Government Inspectorate’s conclusion on an inspection into the compliance with Vietnam’s regulations on the management and use of land at the three units between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2017.
Also, these units allegedly committed wrongdoings in changing the purpose of agricultural land-use and offered parts of the headquarters for lease, reported Tuoi Tre Online.
More than 10,700 hectares of VRG’s encroached land was mainly in the southeastern region and the Central Highlands. Over 1,700 hectares of land also overlapped with that of the local residents.
In addition, VRG was tasked with managing and using 759 land and housing facilities meant for restructuring programs under the prime minister’s decision. However, by the end of 2017, it submitted a list of 43 facilities to the authorities for approving the handling and restructuring, while the remainder just had their conditions checked. VRG also leased part of its office space, which was not in compliance with the Land Law.
As for Vinafor, the Government Inspectorate said that the corporation had yet to reclaim over 7,300 hectares of encroached land, accounting for some 15% of the land area it was assigned or rented to manage and use. The encroachment mainly happened from 2005.
Vinafor was also allocated 83 land and housing facilities for management and use. To date, seven facilities were handled and restructured in line with prevailing regulations.
As for Vinatea, it has yet to address the encroachment facing its over 497 hectares of land in the northern province of Phu Tho.
Vinatea alone used 12 plots of land to contribute to the establishment of joint ventures and leased land to businesses without following prevailing regulations and carried out divestment without bidding.
Le Thanh Hung, deputy general director of VRG, told the paper that the firm has adopted measures to cope with the land encroachment for years, but faced many obstacles due to historical issues.
