China's Ministry of Land and Resources announced minimum prices for the sale of land for industrial use on Wednesday, a move aimed at curbing the over-expansion of industrial land.

"The new standards are significantly higher than the actual selling price of industrial land we have monitored across the country," said Mao, an official with the ministry.

Many local governments have been selling the land-use rights for industrial use at very low prices to attract investment and seek a higher GDP growth. Rampant illegal land acquisition has led to redundant construction projects and ruined farmland.

According to the new pricing regulations, industrial land across China has been categorized into 15 classes based on the local economic situation and soil condition.

The price range extends from 60 yuan (7.7 U.S. dollars) per square meter in some counties in the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to 840 yuan (107 U.S. dollars) per square meter in the suburbs of Shanghai.

China posted economic growth of 10.7 percent in the first three quarters of this year on the back of a 27.3 percent growth in fixed assets investment, both of which are considered too high by Chinese economists.

The government believes that checking excessive growth of credit and land supply could be an effective way of cooling the economy.

Chinese central government has taken a slew of measures to tighten the land supply in the second half of this year, including imposing higher taxes on urban land use and stripping local governments of their authority to spend the money from land sales.

Source: Xinhua