Modern technology will be harnessed to curb illegal acquisition
of farmland for property development, the Ministry of Land and
Resources said yesterday.
By 2010 the new land regulation system backed up by
satellite-based remote sensing and Internet communications among
other things will cover all cities and 95 percent of land in rural
regions, the ministry said.
Data collected by the system will include physical dimensions,
soil quality ratings and ownership of every piece of land, said Fan
Zhiquan, a department director at the ministry. He said the central
government would deputize specially-trained staff to monitor
changes to land use contracts and prevent illegal transactions.
"The supervision system is especially important now as the
central government tries to control land supply to cool overheated
investment in fixed assets," said Fan.
The rampant acquisition of land from farmers by local and
grass-roots governments and loose credit supply have heated China's
economy since mid-2003. Despite stricter land control measures and
tighter credit the nation's economy still grew at 10.9 percent
during the first half of this year.
In the long run, Fan said, the new system and closer monitoring
of land use can help ensure that the country has enough arable
land.
China had 122 million hectares of arable land last year, down
from 130 million hectares in 1996. According to the ministry at
least 106.7 million hectares of cultivated land?are required
to feed a projected population peak of 1.6 billion in 2030.
Experts said the monitoring system can help prevent infringement
of farmers' rights.
"The system, which is widely used in developed countries, can
stop local governments from grabbing land from farmers," said Jiang
Zhongyi, a senior researcher at the Agricultural Economic Research
Center affiliated to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Currently, some local governments acquire farmland for
commercial purposes but fail to report the change of ownership to
provincial or central governments so as to evade tight restrictions
the central government has placed on taking arable land for
business use.
Premier Wen Jiabao last month expressed concern over
provincial and local governments using too much land for real
estate development, the low transfer cost of land for industrial
purposes and rampant illegal occupation of farmland.
The ministry responded by releasing regulations stipulating that
all land for business, tourism, recreation, commercial property and
other profitable purposes be transferred through public bidding and
auctions.
(China Daily August 15, 2006)