China Adopts New Policy to Increase the Efficiency of Converting Agricultural Land Into Construction Land

Facing severe economic consequences caused by the global COVID19 crisis, the Chinese government is trying to speed up construction projects. By adopting the new land policy, the central government delegates the examination and approval of the conversion of farmland to construction land, improving the efficiency of land conversion.

On March 12th 2020, Prime Minister Li Keqiang signed the “the authorization to delegate the examination and approval of the land conversion policy”.The new policy states that the State Council may transfer the authorization of the conversion of agricultural land (except for the permanent basic farmland) to construction land to lower-level authorities. With this, relevant authorities will not only be permitted to approve the conversion of land, but they will also be in charge of the examination of relevant land usage, as stipulated in the Land Administration law. The new policy applies to the construction of a wide range of projects with a construction purpose, including greenhouse, infrastructure, manufacture, and real estate projects.

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The State Council appointed eight administrative regions, to be known as Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Guangdong, and Chongqing, to pilot the new policy for one year. The Ministry of Natural Resources shall supervise and inspect the pilot areas and report the development to the State Council.

By implementing the new decision, the Chinese government aims to improve the efficiency of land administration work by shortening decision-making procedures. According to experts, the new policy might be especially beneficial for large-scale projects. In the past, it wasn’t easy to convert agricultural land to construction land. Constructors were often forced to split up their plans in several phases or sub-projects to finalize their construction goals gradually. With the new regulation, the government hopes to increase not only the speed of converting the land but also construction investment and deployment.

It should be pointed out that the new policy, however, will not increase the previously agreed total volume of allowed land for construction purposes as stated in the land-usage development plans of each city or region, approved by the State Council. The new policy is merely a measurement to speed up major construction projects to soften economic impacts following the global COVID19 crisis.