Beijing City's land resources and housing management administration Friday issued land-use certificates to 116 central government institutions in accordance with law.

It marks a new step forward in the country's land and housing management reform, which clarifies the relations between government institutions and the land they use and makes it possible to protect the legal rights of land use of these government bodies.

In the past, central government institutions got land free fromthe authorities and they were not given any certificate to prove their legal rights of land use. Disputes often arose when these institutions moved to other places or were involved in land development projects.

The certificate means much to state-owned banks. After obtaining the certificate, the banks could count it as their capital and use it for mortgage, an official from the municipal land resources and housing management administration said.

Source: Xinhua