On February 28, the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) issued the Circular on Further Improving and Optimizing the Grouping and Submission of Land for Major Construction Projects in Energy, Transportation and Water Conservancy. The Circular states that land element guarantees will be provided to consolidate and enhance the economic upturn. It is necessary to cancel the re-preliminary examination, and no longer re-preliminary examination for construction projects where the total area of agricultural land conversion and land acquisition applications exceeds the total area of land use preliminaries up to 10% as well as where the scope overlap is less than 80%.
Need to report to the State Council for approval of land use of major national projects, included in the "national highway network planning" project expansion projects, as well as provincial energy, transportation, water conservancy construction projects, control the duration of the single project and due to the tight schedule or seasonal impacts of the urgent need to start construction of other projects can apply for the land for the first. The single project with controlled construction period can apply for advance land use, and the scale of advance land use for other projects that need to start construction due to tight construction period or seasonal influence shall not exceed 30% of the controlled scale of land use prequalification.
This notice is effective until December 31, 2025, from the date of its issuance.
The original text follows:
Circular of the Ministry of Natural Resources on Further Improvement and Optimization of Land Use Grouping and Submission for Approval for Major Construction Projects in Energy, Transportation, Water Conservancy and Other Areas
Natural Resources Development [2024] No. 36
Provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government and municipalities with separate plans in charge of natural resources, and the Bureau of Natural Resources of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps:
In order to fully implement the 20th CPC National Congress and the spirit of the Central Economic Work Conference, effectively implement the decision-making and deployment of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on the complete, accurate and comprehensive implementation of the new development concept, accelerate the construction of a new development pattern, and strive to promote high-quality development, further improve and optimize the work of grouping and approving the land use of major construction projects in the areas of energy, transportation and water conservancy, enhance administrative efficiency, and provide land element guarantee for the consolidation and enhancement of the economic upturn. Land element security. The relevant policies and measures are notified as follows:
I. Improvement of site pre-screening
1. Elimination of re-examination. There will no longer be any re-examination of applications for agricultural land conversion and land expropriation for construction projects where the total area exceeds the total area of the land use pre-examination by 101 TP3T and where the overlap in scope is less than 801 TP3T, and the construction unit and the local natural resources authorities will provide explanations of the necessity and reasonableness of the change in the land use situation in the declaration of agricultural land conversion and land expropriation, and the competent departments of natural resources at the provincial level and above will strictly scrutinize and check the situation.
II. Improvement of the policy on advance land use
2. Refinement of the scope of prior land use. Major national projects that need to be submitted to the State Council for approval of land use, projects included in the National Highway Network Plan for reconstruction and expansion projects, and provincial energy, transportation and water conservancy construction projects may apply for prior land use for single projects that are under control of the construction period and for other projects that urgently need to start construction due to tight schedules or seasonal influences.
3. Clearly define the proportion of land in advance. Control the duration of the single project can be for the first land, other projects due to the tight schedule or seasonal impact of the urgent need to start construction for the first land for the size of the scale shall not exceed the land pre-approval of the control scale of the 30%; the Party Central Committee and the State Council explicitly support the construction of major construction projects due to the complexity of the geological conditions of the construction difficulties, according to the actual need to determine the size of the land for the first. In principle, the scope of prior land use shall be within the scope of land use pre-trial. After the approval of the advance land use, the application for agricultural land transfer and land acquisition shall be submitted within one year. Failure to submit applications for agricultural land transfer and land acquisition beyond the prescribed period will affect the application for prior land use for other construction projects in the province where the project is located. If the girder yard and mixing station, which directly serve the corresponding construction project of the advance land use, need to use the land temporarily, they can refer to the document "Circular of the Ministry of Natural Resources on Further Improving the Guarantee of Elements of Land Use and Sea Use" (No. 89 of Natural Resources Development [2023]).
III. Optimizing the approval of agricultural land conversion and land acquisition
4. Early preliminary work on land expropriation. Once the site for a construction project has been determined, local people's governments at or above the county level can coordinate the preliminary work of land acquisition, increase communication and consultation with the farmers whose land has been acquired, complete the preliminary procedures for land acquisition as early as possible, organize the declaration of land acquisition in a timely manner, and compress the cycle of land-use grouping and submission for approval.
5. Improving the way in which the balance of arable land occupation and compensation for construction projects is controlled. The balance of non-agricultural construction is subject to differentiated control. For provinces where the arable land protection target set by the new round of land and space planning is higher than the arable land protection target set by the previous round of planning, as well as for provinces where a new round of provincial master plans has been approved before the institutional reforms, on the premise that the current stable arable land is not lower than the arable land protection target set by the new round of planning, the construction projects will no longer be linked to supplemental arable land when they apply for approval of the conversion of agricultural land, but the construction However, the construction unit shall implement the obligation to replenish arable land by paying arable land reclamation fee or reclaiming the land on its own. For provinces where the target of arable land protection determined in the new round of land spatial planning is lower than the target of arable land protection determined in the previous round of planning, the net increase of stabilized arable land within the provincial area will be taken as the upper limit of the scale of arable land permitted to be occupied for non-agricultural construction for the next year, and a reserve bank of supplemental arable land for non-agricultural construction will be set up on a county-level administrative unit, and the supplemental arable land that meets the conditions will be included in the reserve bank to form an index of supplemental arable land to be used exclusively for the approval of land use for construction projects. The eligible supplementary arable land will be included in the reserve bank to form supplementary arable land index, which will be used exclusively for construction project land use.
6. The land directly related to major construction projects for road conversion, ditch conversion, canal conversion and resettlement may be submitted for approval separately from the main project. Energy, transportation, water conservancy, military and other major construction projects directly related to the road, ditch, ditch and resettlement land, in principle, with the main project should be handled in conjunction with the transfer of agricultural land and land acquisition, and shall not exceed the original size of the land. If the main project has been approved, and the land for changing roads, ditches, drains and resettlement does not involve permanent basic farmland, does not occupy the red line of ecological protection, and the expropriation of arable land does not exceed 35 hectares, and the expropriation of other land does not exceed 70 hectares, the people's government at the provincial level shall approve the use of the land. If the main project has been approved by the State Council for agricultural land conversion and land acquisition, and it is really difficult to avoid permanent basic farmland or the red line of ecological protection by changing roads, ditches and drains, it can apply for occupation and submit a separate report for approval under the premise of strict argumentation; if the main project has been approved by the State Council for land acquisition, and if the area of cultivated land expropriated for the land used for changing roads, ditches, drains and resettlement is more than 35 hectares, and the area of other land is more than 70 hectares, the land use may be reported to the State Council for approval separately. State Council for approval of land acquisition.
IV. Refinement of the rules for the submission and approval of land use adjustments
7. Clearly adjust the land situation. Construction process due to geological conditions, heritage protection and other force majeure factors really need to change the scope of the original approved land, or construction units to optimize the construction program to reduce the occupation of land, especially high-quality arable land, the construction unit in accordance with the requirements to perform the construction project line, location changes in the approval process, by the feasibility study report approved, the project approval or the approval of the preliminary design of the authorities agreed to the municipal and county people's government to adjust the Land use application.
8. Standardize the procedures for adjusting land use. If the provincial people's government approves the conversion of agricultural land and land expropriation and then really needs to adjust the scope of the land, and the adjusted project land does not occupy permanent basic farmland or the red line of ecological protection, and the expropriation of arable land does not exceed 35 hectares, and the expropriation of other land does not exceed 70 hectares, the provincial people's government shall approve the adjustment of the land use (approval of the conversion of agricultural land and the land expropriation of the land that is transferred into the land, and consent to the transfer of the land out of the land, and clarify the requirements for supervision). After the State Council approves the transfer of agricultural land and land expropriation, it is necessary to adjust the scope of land use, in which the transfer of the occupation of permanent basic farmland, the scale of the red line of ecological protection, or the expropriation of arable land exceeds 35 hectares, and other land exceeds 70 hectares, the State Council shall be requested to approve the adjustment of the land use; in cases that do not fall into the above circumstances, the provincial people's government shall approve the adjustment of the land use. If the location or scale of the red line for ecological protection is changed, a new demonstration opinion shall be issued.
9. Clarify the requirements for the submission and approval of transferred land. If the scope of the land needs to be adjusted, the transfer of part of the land will be made by the municipal and county people's governments in accordance with the requirements for the formulation of agricultural land conversion programs; where new land parcels are involved in the expropriation, the preliminary procedures for land expropriation should be carried out in accordance with the law and an application for land expropriation should be filed.
10. Strengthening post-approval supervision of land use adjustments. The Ministry is supervising the approval of land use adjustments through the Land Use Control Supervision System; provincial people's governments are supervising the use of the land transferred out after the approval of land use adjustments. Where the people's governments at the provincial level are responsible for approving land use adjustments, the provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) are required to formulate their own implementation rules for land use adjustment approvals.
This notice is effective until December 31, 2025, from the date of its issuance. In the event of any inconsistency between the previous circulars and the present one, the present one shall prevail.
Ministry of Natural Resources
February 21, 2024
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