Approximately 235.6 billion yuan in investment! All land approvals have been granted for Guangdong’s 23 major projects.

On August 2, reporters learned from the Guangdong Provincial Department of Natural Resources that, since the beginning of this year, the department has further strengthened its support services for natural resources related to major projects. As of now, all land-use approvals have been granted for 23 major projects—including the Phase III expansion project of Baiyun International Airport—that Guangdong has submitted to the State Council this year. The total approved area amounts to 84,100 mu, with a total investment involved reaching 235.618 billion yuan. Governments at the provincial, city, and county levels have collectively approved 1,142 individual site-selection projects and batch land-use applications, covering a total area of 106,900 mu. Across the province, a total of 77 marine-use permits have been issued, covering an area of 54,300 mu; additionally, 885 forest-use permits have been approved, covering an area of 54,000 mu. Through these measures, a number of major projects have been legally initiated and are now under construction, thereby driving effective investment.

Promote the commencement of construction on major projects such as the Pazhou Branch Line of the Guangzhou-Dongguan-Shenzhen Intercity Rail Transit.

Recently, all 23 major projects submitted by Guangdong Province this year for approval by the State Council—including the Phase III expansion of Baiyun International Airport and the construction of a new high-speed railway from Guangzhou to Zhanjiang (Zhanjiang section)—have been approved. The total approved land area amounts to 84,100 mu, with a total investment of 235.618 billion yuan. Among these projects, five are railway projects totaling 202.5 kilometers, and 13 are highway projects totaling 310.85 kilometers.

Rail transit is the major artery of economic development.

In addition, the three-level governments—provincial, municipal, and county—have collectively approved 1,142 individual site-selection projects and batch land-use applications, covering a total area of 106,900 mu. Among these, 50 are individual site-selection projects involving an investment of 95.319 billion yuan. These approvals have facilitated the lawful commencement of construction on major projects such as the Pazhou Branch Line of the Guangzhou-Dongguan-Shenzhen Intercity Rail Transit and the expansion and renovation project of the Jiangmen Longwan to Gonghe section of the Shenzhen-Cenxi National Expressway.

In terms of sea-use and forest-use approvals, the State Council has approved two sea-use projects—the BASF (Guangdong) Integrated Project in Zhanjiang, Guangdong, and the Huizhou LNG Receiving Terminal Project—covering a total area of 3,301.65 mu. Eleven major projects, including the Phase III Ethylene Project of CNOOC Shell in Huizhou and the International General-purpose Terminal Project in the Nansha Port Area of Guangzhou Port, have already been submitted for national review. In total, the province has approved 77 sea-use projects covering an area of 54,300 mu. Additionally, the province has approved 885 construction projects involving the use of forest land, covering an area of 54,000 mu. All major provincial projects that have submitted applications for forest-use permits have had their procedures completed promptly.

Guangming District of Shenzhen has been allocated 1,000 mu of land use indicators.

To fully ensure the demand for natural resource elements in major projects, Guangdong is studying transitional policies and measures for land and spatial planning. Specifically, before the land and spatial plan is approved and takes effect, if a construction project does not conform to the overall land-use plan but is urgently needed in the near term, it may, provided that it does not encroach upon permanently designated basic farmland as defined in the overall land-use plan and does not violate the mandatory provisions set forth in urban and rural planning, pre-allocate up to 20% of the newly added construction land quota under the land and spatial plan—totaling an area of 792,000 mu. This measure will adequately meet the land requirements for major infrastructure projects, key industrial initiatives, and projects vital to people’s livelihoods.

Another significant highlight is the enhanced coordination of land-use indicators. It is reported that at the beginning of this year, Guangdong Province pre-allocated 24,900 mu of land-use indicators for use by various localities. Specifically, seven major industrial clusters—including Zhuhai—each received a pre-allocation of 1,000 mu of indicators earmarked for infrastructure development in their initial zones. Furthermore, Zhaoqing’s Dinghu District and Shenzhen’s Guangming District each received a reward of 1,000 mu of land-use indicators following the State Council’s comprehensive inspection and evaluation of land-use planning. Localities are encouraged to secure land for various projects through four distinct approaches—“competing, earning, freeing up, and purchasing”—and by actively addressing previously approved but unsupplied land and idle land, they have secured an additional 41,800 mu of construction land-use indicators.

Fully guarantee the land demand for major infrastructure projects, key industrial initiatives, and projects vital to people’s livelihoods.

In addition, Guangdong is making good use of its transitional policies and actively purchasing surplus indicators from the linkage between urban and rural construction land expansion and reduction for inter-provincial reallocation. The process for securing land for major industrial projects has been optimized: for major advanced manufacturing projects with fixed-asset investments exceeding 10 billion yuan, provincial-level indicators will be allocated following a “use first, then verify” approach. The quota of forest land required for key provincial projects will be coordinated and resolved at the provincial level.

A total of 417,500 mu of paddy field reclamation projects have been initiated across the province.

Regarding the effective implementation of the balance between cultivated land occupation and replenishment, Guangdong promptly allocated the 2022 plan to develop 50,000 mu of paddy fields to various cities and prefectures. At the same time, it has been closely monitoring and guiding localities to expedite the work involved in site selection and project approval, planning and design, construction, and acceptance and filing, so as to quickly generate usable paddy field indicators.

As of the end of June this year, a total of 417,500 mu of paddy-field reclamation projects have been initiated across the province, of which 367,300 mu have already been completed. Currently, the province still has approximately 497,500 mu of remaining cultivated land indicators and about 27,800 mu of paddy-field indicators. In addition, there are 13,800 mu of national-level coordinated paddy-field indicators remaining for supplementary farmland across provincial boundaries. Overall, these resources can adequately meet the balance requirements for paddy fields in major construction projects, thereby supporting the accelerated implementation and construction of such projects. In 2022, the province continues to apply for the purchase of an additional 27,000 mu of national-level coordinated paddy-field indicators for supplementary farmland across provincial boundaries; the request for approval was submitted to the State Council in June.

We will firmly ensure the implementation of the balance between cultivated land occupation and replenishment.

The land-use approval files shall follow the principle of "review immediately upon receipt and report immediately after completion of review."

To address the growing downward pressure on the economy, the Guangdong Provincial Department of Natural Resources has enhanced the quality and efficiency of dossier preparation for major projects, ensuring a smooth and unimpeded approval process throughout the entire procedure. For land-use approval dossiers submitted by various localities, we implement an “immediate review upon receipt” and “report immediately after review” policy. Where meetings or expert reviews are required, we have established a “fast-track” system that kicks in as soon as a project is identified, guaranteeing that land-use applications for projects are processed and cleared promptly upon submission. At the same time, by focusing on improving the quality of land-use dossier preparation and providing comprehensive, step-by-step “nanny-style” follow-up support, we promptly convene coordination meetings to address any bottlenecks or difficulties that arise, thereby accelerating the commencement, early production, and swift realization of benefits from major projects.

Next, Guangdong will strengthen the scheduling of major projects and intensify targeted supervision and follow-up. We will focus on this year’s list of major projects slated to commence, work backward from the deadlines for natural resource approval procedures, and enhance approval efficiency. We will guide project entities to determine start-up dates reasonably based on actual conditions, strictly adhere to land-use regulations, and firmly prohibit “three-side” construction—building before obtaining approval, applying, approving, and constructing simultaneously. At the same time, we will further study the difficult and contentious issues in the approval process for resource elements, optimize and consolidate land-use approval procedures, simplify the required documentation for land-use approvals, and promote simultaneous improvements in both the quality of document preparation and approval efficiency.