From preparing the preliminary review materials for land use to obtaining the pre-approval reply, then compiling and submitting the project documentation for approval, and finally completing land supply—without at least one or two years, it’s extremely difficult for a construction project to secure approval and begin construction. For a long time, certain problems inherent in the land approval system have left project developers somewhat exhausted and managers feeling somewhat helpless.

This situation will soon be broken. On November 29, Jiang Daming, Minister of the Ministry of Natural Resources, signed two ministerial orders—No. 68 and No. 69—within a single day, amending and improving the “Administrative Measures for Pre-Approval of Land Use for Construction Projects” and the “Administrative Measures for Examination and Approval of Construction Land.” In her interpretation, Wei Lihua, Director of the Policy and Regulations Department of the Ministry of Natural Resources, pointed out that these amendments aim to restore the original functional positioning of the approval system as outlined in the “Land Management Law,” promote streamlining administration and delegating power, combine deregulation with regulation, and optimize service delivery, thereby ensuring consistency between land approval authority and responsibility.

Implement the central government’s “delegation, regulation, and service” requirements to facilitate administrative counterparts.

China’s land approval system is based on the control of land use, and preliminary review and examination and approval of construction land are crucial tools for implementing such land-use controls. In 1999, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment promulgated and implemented the “Administrative Measures for Examination and Approval of Construction Land”; in 2001, it issued and implemented the “Administrative Measures for Preliminary Review of Land Use for Construction Projects.” These two departmental regulations have played an important role in strengthening land management and effectively enforcing land-use controls. Staff members at all levels of natural resources authorities, as well as personnel from project construction units in sectors such as transportation, water conservancy, and energy, are thoroughly familiar with these two regulatory documents.

However, some construction entities have reported that the “pre-examination” process in the approval of land use for construction projects takes too much time. From the start of preparing the pre-examination to the completion of the Ministry of Natural Resources’ approval, it typically takes more than six months. Even after project approval and preliminary design are completed, organizing the application for land use approval still requires at least another six months or even more than a year.

The Ministry of Natural Resources’ investigation and analysis indicate that, at each stage of land-use review, natural resources authorities at all levels can generally complete the review within the prescribed time limits. “The problem lies in the document preparation time and the review process itself,” said Wei Lihua. “The requirements for numerous documents, the lengthy preparation period, and the severe duplication of reviews have significantly extended the overall land-use approval cycle.”

In accordance with the Party Central Committee and the State Council’s reform requirements of “streamlining administration and delegating power, combining deregulation with regulation, and optimizing services,” the Ministry of Natural Resources has made multiple improvements this time in simplifying approval procedures and enhancing approval efficiency.

Wei Lihua pointed out that the revisions to the two regulations are primarily guided by the goal of “improving and optimizing approval processes and making administrative management more convenient for parties involved.” These revisions aim to reduce duplication, simplify content, and streamline procedures, thereby achieving “simplified documentation, shorter processing times, and increased efficiency” in the approval of construction land use.

“Letting go” must be forceful, “managing” must be effective, and “serving” must be convenient. According to the two ministerial orders, we will rigorously review and strictly control the retained examination items; for the simplified examination items, we will clearly define regulatory measures, enhance our regulatory capacity, and ensure that the simplification of examination content does not give rise to new problems. We will also promote online submission of documents, standardize the format of submitted documents, reduce the difficulty of filing, and make it as easy as possible for parties subject to administrative regulation.

Of course, this amendment is made within the framework of the Land Management Law and does not involve any adjustments to the statutory approval authorities for land management.

Clearly define the roles and responsibilities of different approval functions, and reduce duplication across review stages.

“This improvement and optimization can be summarized in a few sentences: systematically organize and reduce redundancy, clearly define positioning and highlight key priorities, and coordinate and integrate efforts to strengthen collaboration,” Wei Lihua said.

Systematically streamline and reduce duplication. In accordance with the two ministerial regulations, we will systematically review each stage of the land-use pre-examination and approval process, assigning responsibilities clearly to specific categories and ensuring that each stage performs its own independent review, thereby minimizing redundant reviews across different stages and levels. For those review items that are retained, we will strive to consolidate and simplify them as much as possible; for those requiring only formal review, we will no longer conduct substantive examinations. Under the premise of full-process management, we will adjust and optimize the sequence of reviews to effectively enhance review efficiency.

Clearly define the positioning and highlight key priorities. The Land Management Law has established a land approval system comprising three main components: pre-approval of land use, approval for the conversion of agricultural land, and approval for land expropriation. According to the Land Management Law, the pre-approval stage focuses on vetting site selection, land-use scale, and land-use standards during the project initiation phase; the approval for agricultural-to-non-agricultural conversion focuses on monitoring the implementation of the overall land-use plan; and the approval for land expropriation focuses on verifying compensation standards and resettlement arrangements. In practice, however, there has been a tendency toward functional overlap among these different approval stages. In this revision, we aim to return to an “function-based” approach to approvals. Specifically, during the pre-approval stage, construction entities will no longer be required to provide detailed explanations regarding supplementary farmland plans, land-expropriation compensation costs, or arrangements for land-reclamation funds in mining projects. Instead, during the review and approval process for construction projects, the focus will shift to examining issues such as land-expropriation compensation and resettlement measures, as well as the status of supplementary farmland. Meanwhile, other administrative tasks that have been superimposed onto the land approval function—such as assessments of mineral resource overlying areas and geological hazard risk evaluations—will, while ensuring that they do not interfere with the core approval process, be appropriately separated from the land approval procedure.

Coordinate and integrate efforts, and strengthen collaboration. According to the two ministerial orders, the review items that have been canceled during the land-use pre-approval stage will be given focused attention during the land-use approval stage. In cases where there is inconsistency in the hierarchical authority between the agency responsible for the pre-approval of construction project land use and the agency responsible for approving the conversion of agricultural land and land expropriation, as well as in situations involving urban construction land approved by the State Council or implementation plans reviewed by provincial governments, the two ministerial orders require enhanced coordination and linkage among all approval stages—thus further improving efficiency while ensuring rigorous and thorough review and oversight.

Lead reform with the rule of law and bring preliminary land use under the framework of the rule of law.

A major highlight of the revisions to these two ministerial regulations is the clarification of the scope of application and related requirements for advance land use.

The “Preliminary Land Use” policy is a land-use support reform initiative introduced by the Ministry of Natural Resources in response to the need to “stabilize growth.” It has played an important role in ensuring timely land availability for key national construction projects, promoting stable economic development, and maintaining order in land management. Wei Lihua stated that, due to the lack of clear legal basis for the Preliminary Land Use policy, in recent years, the Ministry of Natural Resources’ approvals for preliminary land use have increasingly triggered administrative review cases, making it urgently necessary to address the issue of the legal status of preliminary land use.

According to Wei Lihua, regarding the question of whether the approval process for preliminary land use should be retained, the State Council’s Office for Institutional Reform and Streamlining had conducted thorough research and deliberations. In the 2015 “Decision of the State Council on Cancelling Non-Administrative Licensing Approval Items,” preliminary land use was not removed as a non-administrative licensing approval item. Instead, it was explicitly reclassified as an internal government approval matter exercised by the Ministry of Natural Resources, thereby providing a normative document-level basis for the preliminary land-use policy at the State Council level.

This revision of the “Administrative Measures for the Examination and Approval of Construction Land Use” adheres to the principle of “leading reform with the rule of law.” Building on a summary of the successful implementation of preliminary land use, it specifically adds a new provision: For key national construction projects, individual projects with critical construction schedules, as well as other projects that urgently need to commence construction due to tight schedules or seasonal constraints, the land and resources authorities of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government may apply to the Ministry of Natural Resources for preliminary land use. In essence, this amendment to the ministerial order sets forth clear regulations regarding the scope of application, application requirements, and approval deadlines for preliminary land use, thereby providing a regulatory basis for such practice.