China's land control authorities Thursday named four local
governments who have been ordered to rectify illegal arable land
use situations and pledged not to be soft or tolerant of any
shirking of duties.
They are the Beijing Municipal government, the provincial
governments of Henan and Yunnan and the Dalian City government.
Xu Shaoshi, the state land inspector general
who doubles as the minister of Land and Resources, said all four
governments have taken immediate actions to straighten out their
problems.
The problems included acquiescing in land expropriation without
actual approval, encouraging the leasing of farm land to get round
the ban on confiscation and revising land use plans to erode the
area of farm land.
Responding to the ministry, the Beijing Municipal government
carried out a check and detected 442 illegal land use cases
involving a total area of 1,053 hectares, more than half of which
was arable land.
The Henan Provincial government revoked its prior approval of
the land use application of Henan Fengshen Tyre Company supported
by Jiangzuo City government and returned the 26.7 hectares of farm
land occupied to farmers. Three other similar violations were
detected.
The Yunnan Provincial government reclaimed 4.4 hectares of farm
land from the Qujing City Government who illegally expropriated the
land for the construction of a vocational education center. The
project has been banned after the Qujing City government submitted
a written self-criticism to the provincial government. A total of
2,034 illegal land use cases have been uncovered in the province
since 2005 involving an aggregate land area of 655 hectares.
The Dalian City government responded by initiating an
investigation which exposed 879 hectares of land misused without
prior authorization.
"These cases are not exceptional. Quite a number of city and
county government acquiesced, countenanced or even pulled the
strings behind deals involving the illegal use of arable land,"
said Xu Shaoshi at a press conference in Beijing.
He warned that land inspectors would use all possible
means--legal, administrative, economic or technical-- to catch
violators. He added that the land use quota of local governments
cited in these cases would be reduced for the following year.
"We will not let them get an unfair advantage", he said.
The world's most populous nation faces a severe farm land
shortage. At the end of 2006, its arable land declined from 2005's
122 million hectares to 121.8 million hectares, only a stone's
throw away from the official bottom line of 120 million
hectares.
The central government has pledged to adopt very strict land
control but some local governments obsessed with economic growth
still break laws and brutally sacrifice the interests of
farmers.
"The number of land misuse cases is going down, but the problem
is far from being eradicated," Xu said.
Between January and May, China investigated 24,245 illegal land
use cases, down 3.6 percent year-on-year, involving 14,667
hectares, down 12.14 percent year-on-year.
Ninety-nine commercial bribery crimes relating to land use have
been uncovered worth a combined 43.3 million yuan (US$5.85
million). Sixty-six people received criminal sentences, with
another 37 getting Party or administrative disciplinary
penalties.
Chinese Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan has urged local governments and
individuals to provide and gather accurate land data in the second
national land survey that began on July 1st as up-to-date and
accurate land data would bolster the government's tough land
control measures and safeguard the arable land minimum.
"The central government will tolerate no cheating or changing
data," he has warned.
Sources with the Ministry of Supervision and Land and Resources
have required their provincial departments to submit monthly
reports on their latest inspection results and the response of
local governments.
They say that a new land inspection storm is brewing as the land
use overhaul will be strengthened at grass-root levels, with the
focus at government officials flouting regulations to approve
illegitimate land use and the transfer of use rights for
state-owned lands at cheaper costs.
According to a joint statement released by both ministries on
Thursday, major leaders of local governments are to be held full
responsible for perpetrations within their jurisdiction and
required to provide full support to land inspectors and to respond
quickly to problems.
The ministries urged local governments to "turn their head" to
review the illegal land use cases uncovered between January 2005
and September 2006 to make sure past problems were rectified and
perpetrators were penalized in line with law.
No organizations or individuals are allowed to hide or shelter
land misuse cases.
(Xinhua News Agency July 13, 2007)