China's Ministry of Land and Resources said Tuesday that it will continue to strictly control land used for construction in 2005, further improving land management and supervising the land market.

A survey of national land use in 2004 found that last year, 267, 800 hectares of land was used for construction in the country, down 37 percent from 2003. And 145,000 hectares of cultivated farmland was used for construction, a decrease of 84,000 hectares since last year.

More than half of the land for construction approved by the ministry last year was in economically developed areas such as Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Fujian, Liaoning and Shandong, according to the survey.

The ministry said that it promoted improved land use structure last year by restricting land supply for golf courses, villas and other luxurious buildings. 

(Xinhua News Agency March 30, 2005)