Unlocking "gold mine" of public land

As a series of strategic infrastructure projects accelerate, especially transport routes connecting to Long Thanh International Airport, expressways, and inter-regional ring roads, public land resources are becoming one of the most critical assets for Dong Nai City to create new development space.

However, turning this enormous potential into a true development resource requires comprehensive reviews, effective management, and efficient exploitation of land assets.

Vast public land resources across the city

Since 2018, the Provincial People's Committee (now the City People's Committee) of Dong Nai has issued Decision No. 2976/QD-UBND approving the plan for managing and exploiting public land in the area. This initiative was considered a large-scale general inventory of public land resources.

Bien Hoa 1 Industrial Park, once its functional conversion is complete, will create a large public land fund for the city.

According to the approved review results, Dong Nai has more than 29,000 public land plots managed and used by commune-level People’s Committees, totaling more than 13,000 hectares. In addition, the city’s Land Fund Development Center manages over 220 plots with a combined area of 2,200 hectares, along with several government office properties. These figures show that Dong Nai possesses a substantial public land reserve distributed across all 95 communes and wards. This feature is regarded as a strategic resource for infrastructure development, creating resettlement land funds and auctioning land-use rights to generate revenue for reinvestment in urban development.

Since the two-tier local government model officially came into operation on July 1, 2025, the status of public land resources has continued to change in terms of area, usage conditions, and management entities. Therefore, the city has required localities to continue reviewing, surveying, measuring, and marking land boundaries to ensure accurate data for long-term management.

Diep Truong Vu, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment, said that public land resources are extensive, spread across all 95 communes and wards, and constantly changing in reality. Therefore, comprehensive inventories and updated land-use data are essential to improving land management and exploitation efficiency.

According to the leader of the Department of Agriculture and Environment, as of late May 2026, most localities had completed preliminary review reports, though several areas still needed to supplement and finalize data for overall consolidation.

Land is a golden resource for development. However, if it is poorly managed or slow to be put to use, this resource will not only fail to deliver its potential. Also, it may lead to consequences such as encroachment, illegal construction, misuse, or prolonged disputes.

In reality, the review of public land still faces many shortcomings. Some localities have been slow to submit reports; data remains inconsistent; newly updated land-use conditions, after years of change, have not been fully reflected; and adjustments have not yet been made in line with new administrative units.

Some reports submitted to the Department of Agriculture and Environment have not clearly identified the legal grounds or origins of land use when proposing to remove land plots from the public land list or add them to the management list. This challenge has made data consolidation difficult and led to inconsistencies in figures among units. Legal records for many land areas also remain inconsistent, leaving grassroots authorities uncertain when determining current land status and carrying out management.

Efficient management and utilization of land resources

Dong Nai has just entered a new development phase with a new position and governance model. To achieve development goals and become an important growth pole for the whole country, the locality needs a substantial investment in infrastructure, transportation, urban embellishment, and resettlement for residents. Reviewing the entire public land fund at this time is not merely a technical task but an important preparation step for the city's long-term development strategy.

Chu Tien Dung, Deputy Director of the City Land Fund Development Center, said the center is implementing two major groups of tasks related to public land creation: exploiting land adjacent to transportation infrastructure projects and creating cleared land funds for land-use rights auctions to generate investment capital.

Regarding the exploitation of land surrounding transportation projects, the center is implementing six land fund schemes linked to nine transportation projects, totaling 21 land areas covering more than 1,500 hectares. Of these, the Land Fund Development Center is directly handling compensation and support activities for seven areas totaling more than 670 hectares, while commune-level authorities are responsible for the remainder.

As for land auctions, the center plans to review land areas with strong development potential near Long Thanh International Airport, strategic transportation corridors, and existing or planned road systems. These areas may be proposed for land-use rights auctions to maximize land-use efficiency, increase state budget revenues, and generate capital for reinvestment in socio-economic infrastructure development in the locality.

At a meeting with relevant agencies on May 21, Nguyen Tuan Anh, Member of the Standing Board of the City Party Committee and Vice Chairman of the City People’s Committee, stated that Dong Nai is entering a new development stage requiring higher standards in governance and infrastructure investment. Therefore, a comprehensive review of public land funds is necessary to formulate more effective management, utilization, and exploitation plans.

According to the leader of the City People's Committee, in the near future, relevant agencies need to continue conducting comprehensive reviews and accurate inventories of current land conditions to strengthen management and optimize land-use efficiency. This undertaking is considered a key solution for unlocking development resources while also helping to prevent resource waste and violations in land management and use.

By Hoang Loc – Translated by Mai Nga, Minho