Tycoons now indifferent to buying "golden land" plots In the past, investors struggled to scramble for ‘golden land’, the land plots located in advantageous positions in central business districts. But now their interest has waned.    HCM City's Department of Natural Resources and Environment said in 2015, it organized auctions to sell 28 golden land plots with a total area of 855,000 square meters, but only four land plots of a total 9,500 square meters were sold. The unsold land plots will be put into auction this year. Another nine land plots have been added on the list of land for auction. This means that the department now has 23 land plots for sale. The 3,300 square meter land plot at No 23 Le Duan Street in the central area of HCM City was once hunted by investors as it is located in an advantageous position which faces Le Duan and Nguyen Du Streets.  HCM City's Department of Natural Resources and Environment said in 2015, it organized auctions to sell 28 golden land plots with a total area of 855,000 square meters, but only four land plots of a total 9,500 square meters were sold.  Tan Hoang Minh was the winner at the auction held in mid-June 2015 offering the price of VND1.43 trillion, or 2.6 times higher than the starting price, described by analysts as a ‘record high price in history’. Analysts commented that investors now are indifferent to golden land, blaming this on complicated procedures. Le Chi Hieu, president and CEO of Thu Duc House, said that the company once planned to buy a land plot in Thu Thiem area through auction. However, the company decided to give up after realizing that the procedures were too complicated and the required conditions for auctions were too strict. Instead of looking for golden land, Thu Duc House now joins forces with investors who have existing land to develop projects. This allows it to proceed quickly with projects without having to follow complicated procedures. The manager of another real estate firm said that golden land was no longer very attractive to investors, because it is ‘as expensive as gold’. In addition, they can only own the land plots for 50 years, which is not long enough for them to make long term business. Lawyer Nguyen Van Hau from Nguyen Van Hau & Associates Law Firm believes that investors have shrunk back also because of the required fees for auctioning. Decree 17 stipulates that investors must pay an auction fee before attending auctions and paying a deposit, which is equal to 1 percent of the assets’ starting price at minimum. The amount of money, worth tens of billions of dong, would be a big problem for investors. Chi Mai