Xu Shaoshi is director of National Development and Reform Commission

Xu Shaoshi, a former minister of land and resources and a protégé of former premier Wen Jiabao , has been appointed director of the powerful National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the top economic planning agency.

Xu succeeds Zhang Ping - who was named vice-chairman of the National People's Congress - at the head an expanded NDRC, the biggest beneficiary of the latest cabinet overhaul. That makes him one of the most powerful ministers on the mainland.

Instead of reducing the agency's influence on the market economy, a government revamp will see it take over population policy from the family planning commission and absorb the State Electricity Regulatory Commission into its energy administration.

Xu's appointment as head of the NDRC, nicknamed the "mini-State Council", surprised some sources in the commission, who expected someone with closer ties to new premier Li Keqiang. Xu has worked directly under Wen twice.

"With the NDRC becoming so powerful, Li would want someone close to him to oversee the commission, otherwise he may lose control over it," a source said.

Analysts said the fact Xu had spent five years as land and resources minister since 2007 chimed with the new leadership's vision of driving economic growth through a massive urbanisation programme to resettle 400 million more rural people in cities over the next decade.