China’s Ministry of Land and Resources will increase oversight of land by regional governments, in a bid to ensure a steady supply of housing, Yicai.com reported on Wednesday.
The land ministry has been requesting regional governments to provide an estimate of land use and speed of allocation. It is also increasing its supervision of large cities and their undertaking of allocated land use, in a bid to prevent “abnormal land use,” the report said.
A land ministry official who declined to be named told Yicai that the ministry has always been supervising land use, and when “abnormal land use” has been found, the ministry has requested an explanation from the regional government.
As the government seeks to increase housing supply, increasing oversight of land use demarcated for housing is one of the areas where the land ministry is actively working, the report said.
As of this year, first- and second-tier cities will require additional land in order to fulfil housing needs, the report said. In Beijing, the provincial government has requested for 6,000 hectares, equivalent to more than 6,000 football fields, in order to meet housing needs for the next five years.