Haining breaks new ground in land reform

Haining, a county-level city in Zhejiang province, has been designated as a pilot city to implement a reform that would encourage sales of collectively owned rural land. The trial is in compliance with Premier Li Keqiang's goal of moving more mainlanders into cities.

The city, about 130 kilometres west of Shanghai, is awaiting final approval to promulgate a series of "groundbreaking" policies, which officials described as a "powerful weapon" to spur economic growth.

According to officials with knowledge of the reform, rural land for residential use in Haining would hit the property market, an unprecedented move on the mainland since 1949.

Rural land ownership reform is aimed at commercialising the so-called minor property right - a kind of land right obtainable by rural residents.

Under existing laws, urban residents are barred from buying residential properties in rural districts where the land is collectively owned by farmers in the villages.

Theoretically, the villas and houses built on the rural land are not marketable owing to the land's collective ownership nature.