National Land Supervision Announces Illegal and Non-compliant Land Use Problems in 9 Cities
In order to urge local people's governments to earnestly fulfill their statutory duties in land use and management, effectively protect arable land, promote economical and intensive land use and safeguard the rights and interests of the people, on September 26 the National Land Inspector-General issued No. 9 Land Supervision Announcement, publicly summoning for talks the people's governments of 9 cities with prominent land violations, namely Xingtai City in Hebei Province, Siping City in Jilin Province, Huzhou City in Zhejiang Province, Suqian City in Jiangsu Province, Jining City in Shandong Province, Qingyuan City in Guangdong Province, Hengyang City in Hunan Province, Neijiang City in Sichuan Province and Shangluo City in Shaanxi Province.
The announcement said that the 9 cities mainly have the following problems: —— Illegal and non-compliant land occupation, among which construction projects such as roads, development parks and new urban districts led by local governments illegally occupied large amounts of arable land. In Xingtai City, Suqian City, Jining City and Siping City, illegal land use in 2013 all exceeded 10,000 mu, at 36,700 mu, 23,500 mu, 24,100 mu and 13,100 mu respectively, and the areas of illegally occupied arable land were 22,600 mu, 15,800 mu, 20,700 mu and 9,700 mu respectively.
—— Illegal and non-compliant land transfers, non-standard management of land transfer revenue and expenditure, and illegal mortgage financing with land were relatively prominent. In Neijiang City and the governments of its subordinate districts, land transfer revenue of 1.589 billion yuan from 29 parcels of land had not been collected in place within the deadline.
—— Illegal land expropriation infringed on the lawful rights and interests of farmers whose land was expropriated, mainly including illegal land expropriation, inadequate implementation of compensation and resettlement for land expropriation, and failure to implement the social security system and related fees. In Xingtai City, the land expropriation compensation and resettlement fees for 36 projects involving conversion of agricultural land and land expropriation had not been implemented, involving an amount of 221 million yuan.
—— Land was supplied in violation of national regulatory policies. Deqing Zhongda Moganshan Ecological Park Development and Construction Co., Ltd. in Huzhou City (acquired by Zhejiang Youcheng Holding Group Co., Ltd.), from August 2009 onward, arbitrarily changed the use of tourism land approved by the provincial government and developed and built a golf course and real estate projects, involving 2,049.34 mu of land.
The announcement pointed out that in response to the problems found in supervision and inspection, the National Land Supervision Bureaus stationed in various localities have issued supervision opinion letters to the relevant provincial-level people's governments, and will carry out on-site verification of the rectification situation in the areas summoned for talks. The relevant provincial-level people's governments will organize and implement rectification work in accordance with regulations. The purpose of this announcement is to promote local rectification in accordance with laws and regulations while also accepting public oversight.