Economy

China to complete registration of collectively-owned land

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-05-14 15:43

BEIJING - China plans to confirm and register ownership for all of the country's rural collectively-owned land by the end of 2012 in order to better protect farmers' rights, the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) said Friday.

In a notice jointly released by the MLR, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture, the government said it will strive to identify ownership rights for every plot of rural collectively-owned land over the next two years.

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The move aims to promote the stable development of rural areas, improve land management and enhance efficiency, said Zhu Liuhua, head of the MLR's Land Registration Management Department.

According to the notice, local governments should work to clarify the ownership, boundaries, size and usage of all rural land and issue land registration certificates to owners.

In addition, all rural collectively-owned land should be properly registered and certificates should be obtained before the land is expropriated or moved to a rural land transfer market, according to the notice.

The MLR, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture will set up a group to help with the registration process, while local land authorities will also create teams to help implement the policy.