Construction of villas, golf courses and race tracks will be
strictly banned as two catalogues of projects that will be either
restricted or prohibited were revealed yesterday.
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
meters) 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 centers 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.
"The two catalogues will become an important measure for the
country to strengthen and improve its macro-controls," he said.
The catalogues replace two similar ones that were issued in
1999.
A series of measures have been taken this year to cool down
overheated investments in fixed-assets and the rampant
expropriation of arable land by local governments.
In May, the central government issued a ban on the use of new
land for luxury villas. This was coupled by repeated orders from
the ministry to supply more land for smaller, affordable housing,
to cool the overheated property market.
Earlier last month, a regulation issued by the ministry, which
will be effective next year, doubles the land-use fee of arable
land for new construction, a move many believe will tighten the
protection of arable land.
A number of illegal land acquisition cases have been brought to
the attention of the State Council this year.
In September, the State Council issued a serious administrative
warning to two deputy-ministry level officials in central China's
Henan Province for illegally expropriating nearly 1,000 hectares of
land for the construction of a college park.
(China Daily December 19, 2006)