Four departments: Each region should prepare a three-year rolling plan for land reserve based on national economic and social development plans and national land space planning.

On January 22, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Finance, the People's Bank of China, and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued a notice on the issuance of the "Land Reserve Management Measures". The measures propose that localities should formulate a three-year rolling plan for land reserve based on national economic and social development planning, land space planning, reasonably determine the scale of land reserve for the next three years, make overall arrangements for land resources that can be collected and reserved within three years in terms of total quantity, structure, layout, and timing, delineate reserve zones in conjunction with urban renewal, large-scale development, etc., and prioritize the reserve of existing construction land that is vacant or underutilized. The original text is as follows: Provincial, autonomous region, and directly governed municipality departments responsible for natural resources, finance departments (bureaus), Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Bureau of Natural Resources, Finance Bureau, People's Bank of China Shanghai Head Office, provincial, autonomous region, directly governed municipality branches, and financial regulatory authorities: In order to strengthen and standardize land reserve management, in accordance with relevant laws and regulations and the provisions of relevant documents of the State Council on the management of state-owned land assets, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Finance, the People's Bank of China, and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission jointly revised the "Land Reserve Management Measures". Now it is issued for your implementation. Ministry of Natural Resources, Ministry of Finance, People's Bank of China China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission January 10, 2025 Land Reserve Management Measures 1. General Requirements (1) In order to improve the land reserve system, promote the efficient use and allocation of land resources, enhance the support and guarantee capability of construction land, and promote high-quality development, in accordance with the "Land Management Law" and the State Council's Notice on Strengthening the Management of State-owned Land Assets (State Council Document No. 15 [2001]), the State Council's Notice on Promoting the Economical and Intensive Use of Land (State Council Document No. 3 [2008]), and the State Council's Office's Notice on Regulating the Revenue and Expenditure Management of State-owned Land Use Rights (State Council Document No. 100 [2006]), these measures are formulated. (2) Land reserve refers to the behavior of county-level (inclusive) and above natural resources authorities acquiring land legally, carrying out asset management, organizing preliminary development, and storing for supply in order to regulate the land market, promote the rational use of land resources, implement and safeguard the rights of owners. Land reserve work is unified under the management of the natural resources authority, and land reserve institutions are responsible for the specific implementation of land reserve work. The finance department is responsible for the supervision of land reserve funds and the formation of assets. (3) Land reserve institutions should be approved by the people's government at or above the county level, have independent legal personality, be affiliated with the natural resources authority of their administrative division, and be responsible for the land reserve work in their administrative jurisdiction. The natural resources authority shall implement a list-based management system for land reserve institutions. Natural resources authorities at the municipal and county levels should report the information of institutions that meet the regulations to the provincial natural resources authority level by level, and after review by the provincial natural resources authority, report to the Ministry of Natural Resources, include it in the national list of land reserve institutions, and update it dynamically. 2. Reserve Plan (4) Localities should formulate a three-year rolling plan for land reserve according to national economic and social development planning and land space planning, reasonably determine the scale of land reserve for the next three years, make overall arrangements for land resources that can be collected and reserved within three years in terms of total quantity, structure, layout, and timing, combined with urban renewal, large-scale development, etc., to delineate reserve zones, and prioritize the reserve of existing construction land that is vacant or underutilized. (5) Localities should reasonably formulate annual land reserve plans based on the needs of urban construction development and land market regulation, combined with local social development planning, the three-year rolling plan for land reserve, and the annual state-owned construction land supply plan. The content of the annual land reserve plan should include: 1. Carry-over situation of reserve land at the end of the previous year (including the list of proposed reserve land at the end of the previous year and the land already in the reserve); 2. Plan for new reserve land in the year (including the scale and list of proposed reserve land to be acquired and the newly added land already in the reserve); 3. Preliminary development plan for the year (including the list of preliminary development land for the year); 4. Land supply plan for the year (including the list of land to be supplied in the year); 5. Temporary management plan for reserve land in the year; 6. Total amount of land reserve funds required for the year. In which, proposed reserve land refers to land that has been included in the land reserve plan or has been approved by the people's government at or above the county level, and work such as reclamation, acquisition, or expropriation has been initiated but complete ownership has not been obtained; land already in the reserve refers to land that the land reserve institution has obtained complete ownership of and has been included in the management of reserve land. (6) In the third quarter of each year, the natural resources authority, together with the finance department, should organize the preparation of the land reserve plan for the next year, submit it for approval to the same level of people's government, and report it to the provincial natural resources authority for the record. If there is a need to adjust the annual land reserve plan due to changes in land market regulation policies or re-development of inefficient land, the land reserve plan should be submitted for approval and record according to the original approval procedure. 3. Standards for Reserve Land Entry (7) Reserved land must comply with land space planning. Land with pollution, cultural relics, overlay of mineral deposits, flood risks, geological hazards, etc., shall not be included in the reserve until related units have completed verification, evaluation, and management according to relevant regulations. (8) The following types of land can be included in the reserve: 1. State-owned construction land that has been legally reclaimed and whose original land use rights have been cancelled; 2. State-owned construction land acquired through purchase; 3. State-owned construction land obtained through exercising the right of first refusal; 4. Land for which approval has been obtained for conversion from agricultural land or expropriation and expropriation has been completed; 5. Other state-owned construction land obtained legally. The land to be included in the reserve must have clear property rights. Land reserve institutions should audit the legality of the acquisition method and procedure, economic compensation, ownership status (including ownership and usufructuary rights, security rights), etc., and must not harm the legitimate land rights for the sake of acquisition. Land that does not meet the legal requirements for acquisition method and procedure, insufficient compensation, unclear land ownership, and various types of real estate rights registration procedures such as original collective land ownership or state-owned construction land use rights have not been completed, should not be included in the reserve. (9) The compensation standard for acquired land shall be determined by the land reserve institution and the land user based on land assessment results, etc., in accordance with established procedures.Business, confirmed by the same level natural resources regulatory authority and finance department. () () () (10) Reserved land will no longer handle the first registration of state-owned land use rights, and will not handle real estate mortgage registration. 4. Pre-development, Management and Supply (11) Land reserve agencies are responsible for clearing the property rights of reserved land deposited, and evaluating the asset value of reserved land deposited. (12) Land reserve agencies should organize necessary pre-development of reserved land to provide guarantees for land supply for the government. Pre-development of reserved land should strengthen the protection of cultural relics, historical sites, ancient trees and other heritage in accordance with the planning of the plot, complete the construction of basic infrastructure such as roads, water supply, electricity supply, gas supply, drainage, communication, and fences within the plot, and carry out land leveling to meet the necessary "leveling" requirements. Specific projects should be constructed by selecting units for engineering exploration, design, construction, and supervision in accordance with relevant regulations. During the construction of pre-development projects, land reserve agencies should supervise and manage the implementation of the projects. After the completion of the project, land reserve agencies should organize acceptance according to regulations or entrust a professional organization to conduct acceptance, and report to the competent natural resources department in accordance with relevant regulations for the record. (13) Land reserve agencies should manage the land included in the reserve through self-management, entrusted management, or temporary use, establish a patrol system, and early identify, stop, and deal with behaviors that infringe on the rights of reserved land. The management of reserved land can be assigned to the internal institutions of the land reserve agency, or the land reserve agency can select a management unit according to relevant regulations. (14) Before the reserved land is supplied, land reserve agencies may utilize the reserved land or buildings (structures) above the ground through leasing, temporary use, etc. Temporary use of reserved land generally does not exceed two years and should not affect land supply. Temporary use of reserved land should be approved by the competent natural resources department at the same level. Temporary use of reserved land in urban planning areas that require the construction of buildings must go through approval procedures in accordance with the law and must not construct permanent buildings. (15) After the pre-development of reserved land is completed and has supply conditions, it should be included in the local state-owned construction land supply plan, which will be organized by the competent natural resources department of the city/county for land supply. Before supplying registered and certified reserved land, the land reserve agency should first apply for cancellation of real estate registration, otherwise, it will not be supplied. 5. Fund Management (16) The income and expenditure management of land reserve funds shall strictly follow the financial regulations of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Natural Resources regarding the financial management of land reserve funds. The Ministry of Finance sets aside a certain proportion of funds from land transfer revenue to establish a state-owned land revenue fund, mainly used for land reserve, with the specific proportion determined by the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, and planned cities, and submitted to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Natural Resources for the record. Land reserve funds are arranged through government budgeting and implemented on a dedicated basis. (17) Land reserve agencies should strictly use land reserve funds for designated purposes and should not misappropriate them. The daily expenses required by land reserve agencies are included in the government budget, and are separately accounted for from the land reserve funds, without mixing them. After land supply, the land acquisition costs should be settled in a timely manner. (18) Land reserve agencies should prepare a budget for land reserve fund income and expenditure projects in accordance with regulations, which should be audited by the competent natural resources department at the same level and approved by the same-level Ministry of Finance before implementation. At the end of the year, land reserve agencies should submit the final accounts of the income and expenditure projects of the land reserve funds to the same-level Ministry of Finance for review, either by the same-level Ministry of Finance or by designated reputable accounting firms with high professional quality. (19) Land reserve funds should establish a performance evaluation system, with the performance evaluation results serving as the basis for the Ministry of Finance to arrange the annual income and expenditure projects of land reserve funds. (20) The management of special bonds used for land reserve shall be carried out in accordance with the relevant regulations of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Natural Resources, and other relevant departments. 6. Supervision Responsibilities (21) Informatization management. The Ministry of Natural Resources shall establish the National Land Assets Management Information System, which is used for the information management of reserved land and integrated into the supervision and implementation of the national land spatial planning "map". For land reserve projects involving the use of special bonds, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Finance should link and share project information through the local government debt management information system, and the Ministry of Finance should provide the list of land reserve projects using special bonds to the Ministry of Natural Resources. Land reserve agencies should enter the land reserve plan, project, plot, and special bond-related information into the system as required, and carry out work in accordance with relevant laws, regulations, and normative documents. Failure to comply with relevant requirements will result in warnings until the entity is removed from the national land reserve agency list. The competent natural resources departments at all levels should strengthen the audit and supervision of the data in the National Land Assets Management Information System, ensuring the authenticity, completeness, accuracy, and timeliness of the data. They should establish random checks and data verification mechanisms, regularly monitor, analyze, and evaluate the related data indicators of reserved land, and adjust as needed. (22) Departmental supervision. The competent natural resources departments and finance departments at all levels should cooperate according to their respective responsibilities to ensure the smooth progress of land reserve work. The natural resources departments at the city/county level should develop relevant management measures to supervise land reserve agencies, business operations, asset management, and fund utilization, conduct regular assessments, strengthen the management and guidance of land reserve agencies, review and adjust land reserve plans and fund requirements, ensure the financing balance of land reserve projects using special bonds, guide relevant entities to timely hand over funds for repayment of the special bond principal and interest, and cooperate with the city/county finance department in the management of related special bond issuances. The provincial natural resources department is responsible for formulating the supervision system for land reserve in its administrative jurisdiction, providing policy and business guidance for land reserve operations, supervising the operation of land reserve agencies and local land reserve businesses, reviewing the directory of land reserve agencies, the scale of land reserve, and the needs of funds and special bonds, ensuring the financing balance of land reserve projects using special bonds, guiding relevant entities to timely hand over funds for repayment of the special bond principal and interest, and coordinating with the provincial finance department in the management of related special bond issuances and other related work. The finance department is responsible for auditing the budget, final accounts of land reserve funds, establishment and disbursement of state-owned land revenue funds, and allocation of land transfer income, ensuring the legal use of funds and dedicated purposes.Supervise the payment and collection of funds, settle the cost of land acquisition and storage, and manage the issuance of special bonds for land reserves.(23) Natural resources regulatory departments at all levels, financial departments, branches of the People's Bank of China, and agencies dispatched by the China Banking Regulatory Commission should establish a joint regulatory mechanism that is in line with local realities. According to their respective responsibilities, they should supervise and guide the reserve of land, assets, funds, and special bonds. VII. Other requirements (24) Natural resources regulatory departments in provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government, and separately listed cities may, in accordance with the provisions of these measures, in conjunction with the local financial departments, branches of the People's Bank of China, and agencies dispatched by the China Banking Regulatory Commission, formulate specific implementation measures based on local conditions. (25) These measures are to be interpreted by the Ministry of Natural Resources in conjunction with the Ministry of Finance, the People's Bank of China, and the China Banking Regulatory Commission. (26) These measures shall be implemented from the date of issuance. The "Notice of the Ministry of Land and Resources, Ministry of Finance, People's Bank of China, and China Banking Regulatory Commission on Issuing the Measures for the Management of Land Reserves" (Guo Tu Zi Gui [2017] No.17) is hereby repealed. This article is excerpted from the Ministry of Natural Resources, GMTEight Editor: Chen Wenfang.