Land-related procedures remain burdensome for businesses

The preparation and completion of additional documentation for land-related administrative procedures remain burdensome for businesses, especially in "sub-procedures", according to the 2022 Administrative Procedure Compliance Cost Index (APCI 2022) report.

The report was conducted by the Prime Minister’s Advisory Council on Administrative Procedure Reform, with support from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) through the LinkSME project which aims at promoting reform and enhancing the connectivity of small- and medium-sized enterprises.

To assess compliance costs for land-related procedures, a team of experts surveyed over 3,000 firms regarding three procedures, including the registration and issuance of certificates of land use rights, ownership of residential houses, and other assets attached to land for the first time; registration of changes in land use rights, ownership of assets attached to land, and transfer of investment capital in the form of land use rights; and change of land use purposes.

The report pointed out that the main reason for such "sub-procedures" is the lack of a land database system and interconnectivity among the land management agencies at various levels.

Last year, the APCI score for land administrative procedures reached 71.4 out of 100, with an average compliance cost of 6.2 million VND (269 million USD). The central key economic region achieved the highest score of 86.4 and the lowest compliance cost of 3.3 million VND, which is only 47% of the compliance cost in other key economic regions - the region with the lowest APCI score nationwide.

Vinh Phuc province demonstrated the best administrative procedures, with a total compliance cost of approximately 2.3 million VND per procedure, equivalent to 68% of the average compliance cost in the top region and 37% of the national average compliance cost.

Time cost accounted for 23% and direct cost made up 77% of the total compliance cost for conducting a land administrative procedure. The average time required by businesses nationwide to complete a land administrative procedure was 32.2 hours.

The southern key economic region led the country in terms of time costs for land administrative procedures, scoring 83.3. Businesses in this region only spent around 20.1 hours to complete a land administrative procedure. The Mekong Delta key economic region had the lowest score for time costs at 58. Ba Ria-Vung Tau province demonstrated the best practicality in terms of time required for land administrative procedures, with 6.9 hours, equivalent to 21% of the national average.

The steps related to preparing and completing the documentation accounted for 65.4% of the time required for administrative procedures. The on-site survey step was also one of the crucial steps, occupying 19.6% of the total time for administrative procedures.

Roughly 34% of the surveyed businesses conducted on-site surveys, with an average time of about 6.3 hours, or 19.6% of the total time for administrative procedures./.