Chinese Vice Premier urges to optimize land use

BEIJING, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday called for more efforts to optimize land use in order to save resources and further economic restructuring.

Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang (2nd R) inspects the Ministry of Land and Resources in Beijing, Nov. 24, 2009.(Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

Li made the remarks during an inspection to the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR).

As the most populous country in the world, China has been faced with shortages of land, water, energy and minerals, and the shortages were worsened by rapid economic growth, he said.

Li stressed strict control on land use for the construction of high energy consuming and polluting projects, projects with excessive capacity as well as duplication of similar projects.

China started its second nationwide land census in June, 2007. The MLR said the census was going smoothly and had collected preliminary data from local authorities.