The Ministry of Natural Resources ("MNR") has recently issued the Guidelines for the Implementation of Industrial Land Use Policies (2019 Edition) (the "Guidelines").
The Guidelines clearly state that where land is to be used for business purposes, such as for the industry, commerce, tourism, recreation and commodity houses, or two or more parties express interest in a single plot of land, the land must be granted by means of bidding, auction sale, or listing. The Guidelines state that a provincial people's government may list a separate land quota specifically for national-level economic and technological development zones, and give priority to land demands of innovation-oriented startups, adding that land quotas shall be allocated first for building the planned entrepreneurship bases for small firms, technology incubators, and commercial enterprise clusters. Furthermore, the Guidelines underscore that development zones and industry clusters are encouraged to plan multi-story industrial workshops, national university science and technology parks, and incubators for science and technology firms, to enable small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to use these buildings for multiple purposes, including for production, research and development, design, and business operations.