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The catalogues, which were jointly issued by the Ministry of Land and Resources and the National Development and Reform Commission, aim to "strengthen macro-controls, promote conservative land use, and facilitate industrial structure adjustment", the ministry said on its website.

Details of the two catalogues, which were said to come into effective on December 12, were only revealed yesterday.

Construction of large commercial and entertainment facilities, building material markets, and theme parks are now restricted or prohibited from using arable land.

Race tracks, cemeteries and real estate projects with low density (construction area of a single house exceeding 144 square metres) are also forbidden to use arable land.

The catalogues also ruled out small-scale industrial projects involving coal mines, power, oil petrification and steel plants.

Luxury homes, golf courses, and training centres for government and State-owned enterprises, are listed as an extravagance of the country's diminishing arable land.

The catalogues were enacted according to the country's industrial policy and will be revised from time to time as the policy is adjusted, an anonymous official was quoted by the Xinhua News Agency as saying.

Rampant illegal land expropriation has prompted the promulgation of the catalogues, the official said.

"Despite a double-digit economic increase since 2003, some overheated investments, and excessive loans have emerged," the official was quoted as saying, "blind investments, and low-level repetitive construction are prevalent in some places.

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