Compensation, Assistance and Resettlement in Ho Chi Minh City

New regulations on compensation, assistance and resettlement in Ho Chi Minh City ("City")

People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City (the "PC") promulgated a new decision on compensation, support and resettlement in the locality of Ho Chi Minh City dated 28 May 2010 ("Decision 35"). Decision 35 replaces all the PC's previous decisions regulating compensation, support and resettlement, namely, Decision 17/2008/QD-UBND on compensation, support and resettlement in Ho Chi Minh City dated 14 March 2008 ("Decision 17"), Decision 65/2008/QD-UBND dated 18 August 2008 amending and supplementing Decision 17, Decision 82/2008/QD-UBND dated 1 December 2008 amending and supplementing Item 2 Article 10 of Decision 17, Decision 92/2006/QD-UBND on the implementation of Decision 106/2005/QD-UBND dated 26 June 2006 on compensation, support and resettlement lands in the new southern areas in district 7, district 8, and Binh Chanh district.

Decision 35 increases financial assistance to cover the increasing living expenses in the City. For example, financial assistance for a family household to relocate within the City is now VND 6 million (compared to VND 3 million in Decision 17), and financial assistance for a family household to relocate to another city is now VND 10 million (compared to VND 5 million in Decision 17).

Decision 35 provides details regarding Decree 69/2009/ND-CP dated 13 August 2009 which makes additional provisions on land use planning, land prices, land recovery, compensation, assistance and resettlement ("Decree 69") and Circular 14/2009/TT-BTNMT dated 1 October 2009 detailing compensation, assistance and resettlement and the procedures to recover, allocate and lease land:

• new provisions on financial assistance for life stabilisation and production stabilisation in compliance with Decree 69, such as method to provide financial assistance , rate and period of financial assistance
• list of the documents evidencing land use right issued by the previous administration and still recognised under the current administration
• overall plan for compensation, assistance and resettlement ("Overall Plan") - the investor of a project on the land that is recovered will prepare and submit an Overall Plan which should cover the following matters: area and type of land, the total number of households and individuals whose land is recovered, the total amount of compensation and assistance, resettlement plan: resettlement demands, places and methods, plan for relocation and land handover.
• minimum resettlement area - households and individuals whose houses/land are smaller than the minimum resettlement area which is 30 m2 for a residential house and 40 m2 for a place of land for residential use are entitled to receive compensation packages of the respective minimum resettlement areas. For example, if a person's residential land is 30 m2, he is entitled to receive a compensation of land of 40 m2. If the compensation land is 50 m2, he will have to pay for the value of the additional land area of 10 m2. However, if the households or the individuals opt not to receive residential land or residential houses in a resettlement zone, they shall be entitled to an amount representing the value of the relevant minimum resettlement area.
  

For inquiries related to this Legal Update, please contact:

David Lim (david.lim@mayerbrown.com)

Hong Than (hong.than@mayerbrown.com)

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