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%.

Some notable points of the Land Use Master Plan include:

·         According to the orientation toward 2050, the North Central Region and the Central Coast Region will continue promoting the economic zones and industrial zones development.

·         Land use criteria until 2030 of most of the land types are planned to increase. For instance, non-agricultural land is increased from 3,931,110 hectares in 2020 to 4,896,480 hectares, of which the total national land area reversed for industrial zones is 210.930 hectares (increased 120.100 hectares compared to 2020). Urban land is increased to 2,953,850 hectares from 2,028,070 hectares in 2020.

·         The Land Use Master Plan indicates that the Land Law and relevant regulations (including land financial policies) will be amended to ensure the efficiency of land use and management.

·         Perfecting the regulations to facilitate the land user to convert the land use purpose to implement investment projects as planned is one of the priorities as specified in the Land Use Master Plan. However, the conversion of land use purpose of the rice cultivation land, especially land for wet rice cultivation, into non-agricultural land (especially land for industrial zones) shall be restricted, and strictly controlled. This is to ensure national food security.

This post is written by Nguyen Khanh Linh and edited by Hoang Thi Thanh Thuy.