The price level of China's urban land is expected to rise steadily in 2004, according to a report released by the Ministry of Land and Resources on Monday.

Since China's gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to grow 7 percent this year, the urbanization process will be quickened and the real estate investment and demand will surge, the report says.

The government will strictly control land supplies this year, and the transformation of farmland into construction fields will be restrained, the report says.

The report says the land price rise in major cities accords with the local economic development, and the price level will not go up by large margins this year.

Figures show in 2003, the average land price level rose 8.84 percent in the Yangtze River Delta, whose GDP grew over 11 percent, and the land price level rose 1.81 percent in the Zhujiang River Delta, whose GDP grew over 14 percent in the year.

China's land price rise is rational, and the stable price level effectively prevents bubbles in the real industry, the report says.

(Xinhua News Agency April 1, 2004)