Approved 2021-2030 Land Use Master Plan

On 13 November 2021, the National Assembly issued Resolution No. 39 to approve the land use master plan for the period 2021-2030 with a vision to 2045 and a land-use plan in 5 years from 2021 to 2025 (Land Use Master Plan).

One of the goals of the Land Use Master Plan is to satisfy the land demand to implement the economic and social development strategy for 10 years from 2021 to 2030 and the economic and social development plan for 5 years from 2021 to 2025. The Land Use Master Plan also aims to stabilize 3,5 million hectares of rice cultivation land, and the forest coverage ratio is at 42-43%.

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Written by Lawyers VNLaw On In

Major Changes To The Implementing Rules of Law On Real Estate Business in Vietnam

On 6 January 2022, the Government issued Decree 2/2022 on implementation of the Law on Real Estate Business 2014. Decree 2/2022 will take effect from 1 March 2022 and replace Decree 76/2015. This post will summarize some notable new regulations introduced by Decree 2/2022.

This post is written by Nguyen Hoang Duong and edited by Nguyen Quang Vu.

New definitions

Decree 2/2022 introduces definitions for various vague legal terms which are frequently used in the Law on Real Estate Business 2014, such as real properties made available for sale (bất động sản đưa vào kinh doanh), real estate project (dự án bất động sản), or contracts for real estate trading (hợp đồng kinh doanh bất động sản). The new definitions could facilitate a more consistent of the interpretation of various regulations of the Law on Real Estate Business 2014 and Decree 76/2015.

Disclosure requirement by a real estate developer

Under Decree 2/2022, a real estate developer will have to make various public disclosure about its real estate projects. In particular, the following information must be made available on website of the developer, at headquarter of project management board (in case of investment project of doing real estate business), or at real estate trading floor (in case of doing real estate business via trading floor):

· information as to real properties made available for sale;

· information as to mortgage of house, construction works, and real properties made available for sale (if any); and

· information as to quantity, type of (1) real properties available for sale, (2) real properties that have been sold, transferred, leased, and remaining real properties available for trading; and

· any change to the above information.

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Written by Nguyen Quang Vu On In ,

Allocating Sea Area for Offshore Wind Power Projects In Vietnam

Applicability of Decree 11/2021

It is likely that an offshore wind power project (Offshore WPP) will need to follow the procedures under Decree 11/2021 in order to be allocated with the necessary sea area for development and operation of the Offshore WPP. This is because:

  • Under the current wind power development regime of Vietnam, an Offshore WPP is defined as a grid-connected wind power project with wind power turbines constructed and operated “from the average lowest seawater line over several years off the coast” (nằm ngoài đường mép nước biển thấp nhất trung bình trong nhiều năm ra ngoài khơi);

  • Decree 11/2021 applies to the allocation of certain sea area “from the average lowest seawater line over several years off the coast” for exploitation and use of “sea resource” (tài nguyên biển); and

  • Sea resource is defined to include biological and non-biological resource of the water mass, the [sea] bed and the soil beneath the seabed.

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Offshore Wind Development in Vietnam – Legal Issues Relating to the Use of Sea Area

Vietnam appears to have great potential to develop offshore wind. And recently, many foreign investors are interested in developing large offshore wind farms in Vietnam. Unfortunately, except for regulations on offshore oil and gas development under the Petroleum Law, Vietnam does not have adequate regulations to develop a large offshore infrastructure project such as offshore wind farms. This starts with inadequate legal framework on the use of sea under the Law on Sea 2012 and Decree 11/2021. In particular,

  • The Law on Sea 2012 and Decree 11/2021 allow certain sea areas (khu vực biển) to be allocated for exploitation and use of “sea resources” (tài nguyên biển). While the term “sea resources” is not clear, it appears to include offshore wind farm development. Decree 11/2021 requires a project developer of an offshore wind farm to pay from US$ 125/ha/year to US$300/ha/year for the sea area allocated to the project. Payment for the allocated sea area could be a substantial amount since an offshore wind farm could require significant sea area for not only the wind turbines and the floating sub-station but also the sea area for the undersea transmission line and other protective area/corridor. On the other hand, sea area allocated to offshore oil development is exempt from payment under Decree 11/2021.

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Written by Nguyen Quang Vu On In , ,