Improvements in the group of investment administrative procedures are still slow and not yet in sync with policies to attract investment at the local level.

The popularity of online public services has not also improved significantly compared to previous years.

This information is included in the report Administrative Procedure Cost Index 2022 (APCI 2022) prepared by the Government’s Advisory Council for Administrative Procedure Reform with the support of USAID Linkages for Small & Medium Enterprises (USAID LinkSME).

The report indicates that although localities have made great efforts in simplifying administrative procedures, lack of policy communication and business dialogue, and insufficient planning are major barriers in reducing the compliance burden for enterprises carrying out administrative procedures on investment.

The survey on 3,092 enterprises recorded that about 4.7 per cent of enterprises had paid unofficial costs to carry out investment procedures.

This rate has decreased significantly compared to previous years, according to the report.

According to the report, the group of investment administrative procedures had APCI 2022 scores increase by 4.9 points compared to APCI 2021.

This is the group with the highest score among the nine groups of administrative procedures of APCI.

The survey said that part of the reason for the inadequacy in the group of investment administrative procedures was that many localities lacked master plans related to land use, construction planning, and environmental information, which led to confusion, and lack of transparency in investment approval decisions of localities.

The lack of information shared among local government agencies imposes burdens on compliance costs and legal risks for investors.

To overcome this situation, the formation of an information system and national database on planning will help improve coordination among relevant local agencies in carrying out administrative procedures on investment.

Similarly, the sharing of information related to business operations, investment information systems and public service/information sites on investment procedures and processes at the levels of Government, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and localities will help reduce time and costs for searching and updating information, increasing efficiency in the process of managing and implementing investment projects in Viet Nam.

32.2 hours for a land procedure

The APCI 2022 report also shows that to carry out an administrative procedure in the land group, each enterprise has to spend 32.2 hours on average and the direct cost is about VND3.8 million (US$160).

The report shows that the steps involved in preparing and completing documents are still a burden for businesses, while "sub-procedures" still exist because the database system on land has not been established and widely applied, there is a lack of connection between land management agencies at all levels.

The implementation of online public services for administrative procedures on land is still modest.

Five per cent of the 3,092 enterprises participating in the survey said that they had submitted documents online, 1 per cent of enterprises said to have received the results online.

Businesses have not yet been able to make the payment of tax obligations for the online land transaction.

The group of land administrative procedures has APCI 2022 scores down 1.2 points compared to APCI 2021.

The APCI score of the land administrative procedure group over the past five years from 2018 to now has tended to slightly decrease, in which, 2019 had the most positive change, last year showed signs of urgency of a comprehensive reform of land administrative procedures.

The Government, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and localities have implemented many reforms in land administrative procedures in recent years, but more efforts are still needed to make this group of administrative procedures more convenient for businesses.

The group of land administrative procedures needed to focus on boosting the use of technology, perfecting the land information system and the database of land and land-attached assets as the foundation for process reforms, procedure standardisation, and improvement for co-ordination among relevant agencies, suggested the report. — VNS