Land procedure reforms: A lever to enhance Hung Yen’s provincial competitiveness

In Hung Yen, administrative reform in the land and environmental sectors has been identified as a critical “link” and a key lever for attracting investment flows and driving sustainable socio-economic development.

Strong Shifts from Mindset to Action

According to Nguyen Duc Kien, Director of Hung Yen’s Department of Agriculture and Environment, land has always been the most important resource, but also the most complex and sensitive area in state management. Recognizing this, the department — operating in one of Vietnam’s most dynamic industrial provinces — has proactively implemented a series of decisive measures to streamline the administrative apparatus, improve transparency, and shorten processing times for citizens and businesses.

Pham Ngoc Truong, Director of the Hung Yen Land Registration Office, said:

“With our role as a public service unit responsible for land registration, housing and land-attached assets, as well as building, managing, and updating cadastral databases, we understand that every hour of delay in administrative procedures represents a lost investment opportunity for businesses. That is why the entire system has been working tirelessly, around the clock, to provide the best possible support to clients.”

One of the most notable initiatives has been the establishment of a special task force dedicated to resolving procedural bottlenecks. The group works closely with departmental divisions to address backlogs related to first-time land use right certificates, cadastral surveys, and map extracts.

Truong added that during the first quarter of 2026, the volume of processed land registration applications remained high, with a total of 31,861 certificates handled. One hundred percent of eligible applications were received, updated, and monitored through the province’s electronic one-stop administrative system, ensuring transparency and procedural oversight.

At the same time, the office processed 4,527 surveying and cadastral adjustment dossiers, 878 cadastral map extract applications, and updated 33,354 cadastral records, thereby ensuring a complete and accurate legal foundation for citizens and businesses to access and use land.

The province has also accelerated the development and operation of its land database system, with 36,398 dossiers synchronized into the land database and 31,735 digitized, helping improve information transparency and shorten lookup and processing times.

“With these comprehensive reforms, the office is no longer limited to merely returning administrative results. It also acts as a ‘guide,’ providing project site extracts, supporting investors seeking land access, and implementing land allocation and certificate issuance in a systematic manner,” Truong emphasized.

Since the provincial merger, the Hung Yen Land Registration Office has effectively expanded land information services for investment projects, particularly industrial parks and industrial clusters across the province. Notably, through review and policy recommendations, land-related administrative procedures have achieved a breakthrough by cutting processing times and requirements by up to 15% for procedures such as land subdivision and registration adjustments.

This reduction is more than a paper exercise — it reflects a substantive effort to lower compliance costs for businesses.

The office has also completed 65 cadastral map extract dossiers to determine locations, boundaries, and land areas for land allocation, land recovery, and project implementation, including industrial park and cluster projects such as VTK Clean Industrial Park, Industrial Park No. 3 Expansion, Yen My II Expansion, Thang Long II Industrial Park expansion, Industrial Park No. 5, Phung Chi Kien Industrial Cluster, Quang Lang–Dang Le, Quan Do, Chinh Nghia, and Kim Dong. Major transport projects include Ring Road 4 passing through Hung Yen Province, the express road connecting the Hanoi–Hai Phong Expressway with the Phap Van–Cau Gie route, and the Tan Phuc–Vong Phan Road project.

Accelerating Technology Adoption and Planning Transparency

According to representatives from the Department of Land Planning and Land Use Planning, Hung Yen Province has publicly disclosed land maps, zoning plans, and land-use plans through mass media channels, enabling investors to access information more easily and develop long-term business strategies with greater confidence.

The department has also overseen land fund development inspections and land allocation arrangements for investor selection bidding, helping create a more transparent and competitive environment for large-scale projects.

Leaders of the Department of Registration, Certification Issuance, and Land Pricing said the unit has directly advised provincial authorities on issuing key legal documents, including regulations on land allocation quotas, minimum subdivision areas, and specific compensation, support, and resettlement policies when the state recovers land.

The department has also led the formulation and adjustment of land price frameworks and specific land valuations. These serve as essential legal bases for calculating land use fees, land rental fees, land-use rights values during state-owned enterprise equitization, and compensation levels, thereby ensuring transparency and social fairness.

At the same time, professional work related to land registration and the issuance of land-use right certificates and ownership certificates for land-attached assets has been implemented rigorously within legal authority, helping unlock asset resources for both citizens and businesses.

This proactive and responsible approach in policy consultation and guidance has played an important role in maintaining order in land management and improving the province’s investment environment.

Toward Greater Satisfaction for Citizens and Businesses

According to Nguyen Duc Kien, Director of Hung Yen’s Department of Agriculture and Environment, one of the province’s strongest achievements in reform has been its service-oriented mindset. Inter-agency coordination between the department, related agencies, and commune- and ward-level authorities has created a streamlined and integrated process that ensures accuracy and efficiency.

Although many positive results have been achieved, land and environmental management still faces significant challenges due to constantly changing legal regulations and pressure from rapid urbanization. However, under its commitment to “accompany businesses,” Hung Yen Province continues reviewing and proposing revisions to overlapping regulations that create obstacles for investment.

In the coming period, the province plans to focus on completing a centralized land database system linked with tax authorities and banks, while continuing to reduce administrative processing times by an additional 10–20% in key procedures.

The province also aims to improve the quality of its personnel and build an image of agriculture and environment officials who are dedicated, professional, and ethical, Kien said.