China has hiked the charges on reclaiming land from the sea to
curb an upsurge of the practice that has damaged the oceanic
environment, sources with the Ministry of Finance and State Oceanic
Administration told state media on Saturday.
A new policy that came into effect from Thursday sets the
minimum charge for filling sea areas at 300,000 yuan (US$37,500)
per hectare and a maximum of 1.95 million yuan per hectare, the
Beijing-based People's Daily quoted sources with the
ministries as saying.
The fees are the highest among all kinds of charges on using sea
areas specified in the new rules and must be paid at one time, said
the sources.
The previous regulation had required a minimum 1,500 yuan charge
per year for each hectare of marine area occupied since 1993.
"Since China imposed strict curbs on land use, developers have
turned to reclaiming land from the sea due to low charging
standards," the sources were quoted.
"The surge of land reclamation involving large sea areas around
the country not only misused limited oceanic resources but also
damaged nearby environment," said the sources.
About 300 square kilometers of sea areas were filled each year
from 2001 to 2005, A Dong, an official with the State Oceanic
Administration, has said.
Meanwhile, some coastal regions have cut the charges on using
sea areas at will under the name of attracting investment, causing
losses of state-owned resources, according to the newspaper.
The new policy has banned such operations, stating that the
floor price for the bidding of the right to use sea areas must be
put at or above the charging standard.
China collected 1.55 billion yuan from charging land reclamation
from the sea last year, according to the Ministry of Finance.
(Xinhua News Agency March 4, 2007)