China will soon start a third revision of its national land development plan, which will provide a "golden rule" for the country's land management and urban-rural construction through 2020.

Sun Wensheng, minister of Land and Resources, said that the revision would be based on a thorough field survey and objective evaluation of the existing land resources. Policy appraisal and topical workshops will also be included in the preparatory work.

Sun, at a special symposium held Tuesday, required all provincial branches to wrap up their evaluation of existing development plans by December and complete data collecting and field survey reports by next March so that a nationwide formal revision can be started as early as possible.

Sun also stressed that current land development plans remain valid and must be faithfully realized.

"No departments or individuals are allowed to change their original plans without prior approval from higher authorities," he said.

Since 1986, China has twice revised its national land development plans, which are a crucial foundation for the central government to conduct macro-regulation of land resources.

"With the fast development of China's economy, the previous plan already in use for eight years is kind of behind the times and needs to be revised," Sun said.

(Xinhua News Agency July 14, 2005)