The Ministry of Land Resources (MLR) has set a December 25
deadline to settle land violation cases filed during its 100-day
campaign.
The campaign, launched on September 17, was implemented to crack
down on local governments who illegally transferred household land
to property developers. It would punish officials who failed to
seek permission from higher authorities for land use and those who
flouted decrees to expand the size of development zones.
The ministry ordered local land resource authorities to take
compulsive measures against companies and individuals found to have
violated land use laws. It would also halt relevant construction
projects and return the land to local farmers.
In addition, illegal buildings would be removed and the cases
publicized to bring shame on the perpetrators. Misappropriated land
would be taken back by local authorities. Those found responsible
for escaping government approval before using the land would be
punished in accordance with law.
The ministry has required local departments to verify whether
the land use cases had gone through the necessary legal procedures
and to seek out those who have evaded certain authorizations. Users
of the land would have to apply for new approval with all the
charging items calculated by current standard that is usually more
expensive.
Provincial-level land resource authorities were responsible for
organizing inspection on key areas and projects. Regional bureaus
of the state-owned land supervisory agency would keep a close watch
on the inspection and report to the provincial governments and to
the Ministry of Supervision, if necessary.
Land violation has evolved into a sticky issue in China as in
2004 the central government order promulgated to implement "the
strictest land management policy". Since then, the order has
continued to hit a variety of snags at local levels.
To some government officials, they still had an impulse to
attract capital and technology by offering investors cheap or even
free land resources, a practice that was rife along the east coast
in the early period of China's economic reform and opening-up. To
others, land yields remain a steady source of fiscal revenue for
local governments.
Lured by such immediate local interests, some governments have
stealthily restored development zones closed down years ago or
acquiesced management of legal development zones to invite business
for abolished ones.
Since a national overhaul to shut down inefficient or idle
development zones started in 2003, the number of development zones
in China and their aggregate land size have shrunk by more than 70
percent to 1,568 and 9,949 square kilometers, respectively, as of
the end of 2006.
But rapid urbanization has triggered outrage from some farmers
who were not properly compensated for the land they lost. It also
led to a drastic decline in the area of land available for
cultivation which prompted the government to set a minimum land
area of 1.8 billion mu (120 million hectares) to feed its
people.
In 2004, domestic policy makers started to track the speed and
scale of new land supply in non-agricultural sectors annually to
control land supply and boost overall macro-economic control.
Gan Zangchun, deputy director-general of the country's land
inspection authority, said land violation had become increasingly
discreet in recent years. In the first two years of the policy
change (2004-2006), he said many government officials had blatantly
approved illegal land use. After two decrees were released in 2004
and 2006, such violations became rarer but cases of circumventing
laws and regulations had started to shoot upwards.
National figures on such perpetrations were still being counted.
A recent overhaul on the newly-added land for construction in 70
cities, however, revealed nine percent of the requisitioned land
had been put onto the market in the name of leasing to avoid prior
approval. In one major city, about 67.4 percent of the land
provided to local township enterprises was put on the market in
this way.
(Xinhua News Agency December 10, 2007)