A villa project in the special protection area of the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum scenic spot in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu province, has been closed down, the Oriental Morning Post reported Tuesday.

Buildings which were illegally reconstructed on the site were also ordered to be restored to their original look before a deadline which the paper didn't report.

Construction of the 12 villas by Jiangsu Deji Group inside the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum scenic spot, which is a national natural and cultural heritage site, took more than a year.

Commercial real estate development inside the area has been banned since 2004. Construction and extensions for other purposes must be approved by authorities including the scenic site's administrative bureau.

But Deji Group kept the bureau at bay by building a wall around the villas and claiming the area was under military control and was "related to State secrets," which was denied by the Nanjing municipal government Monday.

The municipal government said the so-called "military zone" was just a shield used by the developer for its illegal practices.