Zhejiang: Introducing a land element guarantee policy to support large-scale equipment upgrades

Recently, with the Provincial Government’s approval, the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Natural Resources issued the "Policy Measures on Strengthening Land Element Guarantee to Support Large-Scale Equipment Upgrades and the Replacement of Old Consumer Goods." This policy will take effect on June 7, 2024, and will be valid for five years.

The policy measures comprise seven main aspects, including ensuring space and stocked natural resources capacity for future planning, protecting land quota indicators and general land supply, and promoting land value capture services.

Upgrading the efficiency of land usage 

The policy measure calls for the optimized use of land layout for public infrastructure, which includes coordination regards the construction of public facilities such as waste sorting collection and recycling of renewable resources. The land use will be reasonably determined in accordance with the construction standards set by the relevant industry authorities.

For areas that do not meet the requirements for the construction of related public infrastructure, conditions should be created to ensure reasonable spatial needs and to facilitate the proper siting and location of other durable projects.

Providing support for the location and layout of projects outside the urban development boundaries

Under the premise of complying with land use types and scale control, new construction land for public facilities with specific siting requirements as the waste management mentioned above will be allowed to be located outside the urban development boundaries. These projects will be incorporated into the "One Blueprint of All" national land spatial planning strategy and will be strictly regulated.

Correspondingly, the scale of newly planned urban construction land involved in these projects must be reduced from the planned new urban construction land within the urban development boundaries.

Strengthening land use plan guarantees

To provide higher quality service and stimulate domestic demand, large-scale equipment upgrades and the replacement of old consumer goods with new ones(referred to as the “Upgrade Project”) are supported to actively apply for national and provincial major projects:

- For projects included in the national major project list, efforts will be made to secure full support from the state.

- For major projects designated by the provincial government, ·the arrangement of cross-provincial land quota transfers is prioritized.

- For projects included in the provincial major industrial project database, priority will be given to land use indicators.

- For other projects, local governments are expected to coordinate the use of newly added construction land and existing land resources to effectively ensure project implementations.

- Prioritize land use guarantees for the construction of facilities for waste management, and accelerate the necessary preliminary development for land reserves.

- For projects that have been found qualified by the Land Allocation Catalog, land will be allocated directly as required.·

- For non-operational land with only one intended user, land can be transferred (leased) through an agreement.

- For land that needs to be auctioned, the starting price should be reasonably set based on its quasi-public product status. In principle, the starting price should be lower than the land supply price for similar plots of similar nature, effectively reducing the cost of land use for the projects.

Excavating existing spatial resources and services

Encourage localities to utilize existing real estate and land resources and support existing projects in adopting "zero-land" technological upgrades. Land use right holders can apply to change the use of existing land for the construction of "Upgrade Project”. Under the premise of complying with planning and ensuring safety, land use change procedures will be handled in accordance with the law.

Efforts will be vigorously made to promote the redevelopment of underutilized land, optimize planning layouts, strengthen spatial governance, address deficiencies in public infrastructure, and enhance the precision of land allocation for "Upgrade Project" projects.

In line with the requirements to benchmark and improve the business environment, efforts will be made to advance integrated reforms such as streamlining land acquisition as a priority task and consolidating multiple checks into one for land planning. Services such as allocating land use planning permits, one-click refund of land transaction deposits, and real estate registration will be enhanced. Multiple measures will be taken to improve the business atmosphere of the land market and strengthen the comprehensive management of construction land throughout the process.

Coordination between different levels of governance will be deepened to effectively implement the supporting policies for natural resource element guarantees established by the central government. This will facilitate the implementation and realization of "Upgrade Projects”.

Source: <https://www.planning.org.cn/news/view?id=15524>

Translated by Xiong Yuxi