China to improve market-based use of key resources with 10-region pilot plan
Two-year undertaking will implement tailored measures to strengthen market mechanisms and foster high-quality development
To advance China’s goal of developing its market-oriented economy, a comprehensive two-year pilot programme has been launched in 10 economically significant regions – aiming to improve the market-based allocation of key resources such as technology, land and data.
The undertaking seeks to remove institutional barriers, improve resource-allocation efficiency, and promote high-quality development by allowing markets to play a decisive role in pricing and distributing factors of production, as growth of the world’s second-largest economy remains under pressure, according to a directive published on Thursday.
The 10 regions designated for related experiments include Beijing’s Tongzhou district; the Greater Bay Area; parts of Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces; Chengdu in Sichuan province; and Chongqing municipality, all of which “possess favourable conditions for carrying out reforms and are highly representative”.
“Since the reform and opening-up [period, which began decades ago], most goods and services in China have shifted to market-based pricing and free flow, but the factor-market system remains underdeveloped, hindering the market’s decisive role in resource allocation,” he said at a press conference on the same day.
Each of the 10 regions will implement tailored measures to strengthen market mechanisms in those areas, according to the programme, which is expected to conclude in 2027.
Yue Xiaowu, who was once a department director at the former Ministry of Land and Resources, noted that the pilot policies across the 10 regions largely reflect measures that have already been implemented for quite some time.
However, the Greater Bay Area plan introduces innovative clauses, such as exploring new mechanisms for the renewal of commercial and industrial land-use rights, which could significantly improve investment certainty and industrial development, he said in a WeChat article on Friday.
The plan also proposes “exploring ways for megacities and super-large cities to legally approve large contiguous green spaces and other open areas without incorporating them into urban-rural construction land quotas”.
“This addresses the long-standing issue where large green and river spaces were unreasonably included in urban construction land indicators – meaning vast green zones may now be exempt from such quotas,” he said.