China to improve national territory spatial planning system: official

BEIJING -- China will optimize its national territory spatial planning to promote sustainable development, a senior official with the Ministry of Natural Resources said Monday.

A unified planning system for national territorial space will be set up before 2020, integrating the plans for main functional zones, land use, and urban and rural development, said Zhao Long, vice minister of MNR, at a press conference held at the State Council Information Office.

In the past, there were many types of spatial planning. However, there was not enough coordination between various plans, Zhao said, noting that efforts will be made to reinforce the coordination to make systematic and more scientific spatial planning.

China will construct an information platform for territorial space by integrating the latest data of the natural resources survey and applying advanced information technology.

Zhao said China's spatial planning of national land use would stick to a people-centered approach and promote high-quality development. Besides optimizing the layout of ecological, agricultural and urban spaces, the spatial planning will pay attention to ecological protection and regional characteristics.

China will also intensify supervision to fully implement national territory spatial planning and ensure its consistency, Zhao added.