Revision of the Land Administration Law is being pushed forward, and the Ministry of Land and Resources says there are three major difficulties
The State Council Information Office held a news briefing on March 29, at which relevant officials from the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Land and Resources, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and the Ministry of Agriculture briefed on the situation regarding China's urbanization development.
At the press conference, Leng Hongzhi, deputy director of the Land Use Management Department of the Ministry of Land and Resources, said that since 2001 we have been studying and paying attention to the issue of collective construction land entering the market, and since 2003 we have been actively studying policies in this area. In particular, after the Third Plenary Session of the 17th Central Committee proposed that lawfully acquired collective operational construction land may enter the market, we further intensified our work in this area and also communicated with the relevant departments.
He said that at present, with the restructuring of township and village enterprises and as farmers increasingly recognize the value of land assets and their awareness of land assets has risen, the transfer of collective construction land has in fact already entered the market spontaneously to some extent. Although such spontaneous entry into the market is restricted by the Land Administration Law, this trend objectively exists in practice. At present we are also revising the "Land Administration Law" to push this work forward.
He disclosed that, as things currently stand, there are three issues that are hot topics and difficulties in the process of introducing this policy: first, the scope of transfer of collective construction land, which is a question that friends in the news media as well as relevant experts and scholars have been studying and debating all along. Second, the subject of collective construction land transfer, that is, who is the subject of property rights. Third, a very important part, namely the distribution of the proceeds from transfer. I think the transfer of collective construction land is a major issue that bears on the process of urbanization, on the economical and intensive use of land, on coordinated urban-rural development, and on protecting farmers' rights and interests so that farmers obtain more income. In the process of revising the "Land Administration Law," we will study and implement this in accordance with the requirements of the central government and make arrangements in the legal system.