Ten Measures to Clean Up Land and Natural Resource Administration

By Landon R. Prieur Neal Stender & Yunfeng (Vincent) Jiang, Coudert Brothers Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing

The "Ten Measures"¹ recently issued by the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources will hopefully lead to greater transparency, less favouritism, more protection of ordinary people, and more opportunities for foreign investors in the acquisition and development of land and mineral resources. The main goal of the Ten Measures relates to domestic politics, and in particular to addressing the public perception (and the reality) of widespread unfairness in the allocation and development of land and resources. But foreign investors will also benefit, along with domestic Chinese companies seeking to operate outside their home regions. Implementation of the Ten Measures will make it easier for foreign and domestic business operators, even those without local relationships, to do market research and to make timely and efficiently priced bids for business opportunities.

Widespread complaints about graft and inadequate compensation for government appropriations have made obvious the need for new approaches in regulating land and mineral resource allocation. One very high profile corruption case involved the well-publicized arrest late last year