LAND RENTS CONTINUE TO SOAR

Some business rents have remained stable, being set by five year leases signed before 2011, said Le Thanh Hai from the VCCI's Enterprise Development Foundation.

Land rental fees throughout Viet Nam, however, have continuously increased, now being about twice as costly as last year, despite exemption policies in place from 2011 to 2014, she added.

Howerver, representatives of businesses from the northern province of Hai Phong complained that land rentals in 2015 increased from two to 4.5 times, compared to last year - and by 10 times compared to 2010.

And businesses in Ha Noi reported that rents increased from five times to as much as 25 times.

In the hospitality industry, construction has been scheduled in large leased areas with high proportions set aside for park areas with trees and a lower proportion for construction.

Therefore, high land rental costs reduce their competitiveness in the hospitality industry, compared to other countries in the region, according to the Tourism Advisory Board (TAB).

The business community proposed that specific plans were needed due to increasing costs of leasing land, and ceiling prices should not be allowed to reach two times higher than the 2010 price, following Resolution No 02/2013/NQ-CP dated January 7, 2013 of the Government.

Yet, the demand to build on land is increasing, as the economy continues to show signs of recovery.

Of note, there were 401,000 operating companies at the end of 2014. Of those, 74,842 were newly registered enterprises in Viet Nam.

Source: VIR