Can You Grow Good Crops on Concrete? Farmers Say It's a Joke
"If crops could be grown well this way, it would be a joke." A villager hoeing weeds in Zhengyang Development Zone, Qianjiang District, Chongqing, told a 21st Century Business Herald reporter on September 25.
Near him was a patch of flat land of about 1,500 sq m, where 1-cm-high radish seedlings were just emerging from the ground. But the color of the soil on the surface was different from that of the soil on the small hill nearby. The soil on this flat land had been transported from elsewhere, and its purpose was to cover up the concrete surface that had already been poured beneath the soil. These concrete surfaces were roughly 40 cm to 50 cm thick, with a soil layer 20 cm to 30 cm thick.
The elderly man mentioned above said that last year this plot had been inspected by the land and resources department. At that time they had planted rapeseed. In fact, these rapeseed plants soon died. Their purpose in planting rapeseed and radishes was to let the people who came to inspect see that these lands had already been "reclaimed."
In Zhengyang Development Zone, Qianjiang District, this plot where "crops are grown on concrete" is not the only one that is widely known; some similar "reclaimed" plots are far larger than this one. Because this covering soil is barren soil lacking nutrients, and the soil layer is too thin, trees and crops can hardly survive.
According to relevant reclamation standards of Chongqing Municipality and the state, for reclaimed land, the soil covering must reach 50 cm thick before the land's planting function can be restored.
Several villagers interviewed in Zhengyang Development Zone, Qianjiang District, said that the above-mentioned "reclamation" was precisely one of the concentrated rectification actions after large-scale problems involving land nature and use were discovered by the Chengdu Bureau of the National Land Inspection (hereinafter referred to as the "Chengdu Inspection Bureau").
From September 22 to 23, 2014, Chen Ning, deputy director of the Chengdu Inspection Bureau, led a land routine inspection team to Qianjiang District, Chongqing, to conduct a mid-term inspection of the implementation of rectification for illegal and irregular land use in Qianjiang District.
It is temporarily difficult for a 21st Century Business Herald reporter to further confirm whether the two aforementioned "reclamation" sites are included in the statistical area that the district has already rectified and passed. Officials responsible for news affairs in the Qianjiang District government and the head of the office of the land and resources bureau both declined to comment on the matter.
Disputed land involves 20,000 mu
On April 7, 2014, the Chengdu Bureau of the National Land Inspection conducted a 20-day routine land inspection in Qianjiang District. On July 30, the bureau formally delivered the "Inspection Bureau Opinion Letter" to the Chongqing Municipal Government.
From September 22 to 23, 2014, Chen Ning, deputy director of the Chengdu Bureau of the National Land Inspection, led a land routine inspection team to Qianjiang District, Chongqing, to conduct a mid-term inspection of the implementation of rectification for illegal and irregular land use in Qianjiang District.
Relevant texts obtained by a 21st Century Business Herald reporter show that on August 8, Qianjiang District held a district-wide mobilization meeting for routine land inspection work. At this meeting, Gan Qifei, director of the Qianjiang District Land and Resources Bureau, under the title "Concentrate Manpower, Time, and Energy, and Carry Out the Investigation, Handling, and Rectification Work of Routine Land Inspection with a Spirit of Courageous Responsibility," disclosed the district's land use problems that had been investigated and handled, as well as proposed rectification measures.
At this mobilization meeting, Gan Qifei said that the Chengdu Inspection Bureau determined that the problems in land use in Qianjiang District mainly fell into 11 major categories. The foremost was that in 2009 Qianjiang District irregularly "artificially changed 16,000 mu of existing agricultural land into construction land." Listed second was that Qianjiang District was determined by the Chengdu Inspection Bureau to have "generally existing acts of pre-land acquisition," and that "illegal expropriation of land infringed on the lawful rights and interests of farmers whose land was expropriated."
So-called pre-land acquisition refers to using land first without land use procedures and lawful process, then trying to retroactively complete the land use procedures and fulfill the land use process. In plain terms, it means "getting on the bus first, buying the ticket later." For example, the district's "Yixin Mining" project, under the circumstance of advance land acquisition compensation, started construction in early 2012 and had already been completed and put into production at the time of on-site verification, but only obtained the land acquisition approval document in May 2013; the "Lijiaxi Resettlement Area" project started in September 2011, and at the time of on-site verification it still had not obtained approval procedures for the conversion of agricultural land and land expropriation.
In 2013 alone, the Qianjiang District government carried out six batches of agricultural land conversion in which it "approved less but expropriated more," involving 783.85 mu of cultivated land. The Chengdu Inspection Bureau determined this to be "illegal land expropriation." Among the items concerning infringement on the lawful rights and interests of farmers whose land was expropriated, there were also problems of inadequate social security and housing resettlement.
Since 2011, land expropriation in Qianjiang District has involved 9,947 people who changed from agricultural to non-agricultural status, but as of April 2014, when the investigation was conducted, 1,356 people still had not had their social security matters implemented;
In addition, since 2012, among the 37 projects expropriated by Qianjiang District, 702 households with more than 2,100 people should have been provided replacement housing. At present, nearly 2,000 people are still in transitional arrangements. In other words, among the farmers whose land was expropriated in the district over the past two years, 94.24% still have unresolved housing resettlement issues.
The remaining seven major categories involving land area were: illegal land approval of 523.9 mu, illegal and irregular land transfer of 501.07 mu, irregular land registration and mortgage of 1,261.05 mu, falsely increased cultivated land of 16.87 mu, inadequate disposal of idle land of 306.75 mu, illegal and irregular occupation of land in 95 cases totaling 2,447.3 mu, and land approved using expired and invalid "historical approval documents" in 6 cases totaling 210.4 mu.
The other two major categories investigated and handled by the Chengdu Inspection Bureau in Qianjiang District were that land management policies in investment promotion did not conform to relevant regulations, and that administrative penalties for illegal land use were not in place.
The "Implementation Plan for Rectification Work of the 2014 Routine Inspection in Qianjiang District" shows that the total amount of land investigated and handled by the Chengdu Inspection Bureau in Qianjiang District this time exceeded 20,000 mu.
Irregular land use by government financing platforms
It is worth noting that under the major category of "irregular land registration and mortgage financing" investigated and handled this time by the Chengdu Inspection Bureau in Qianjiang, all three sub-items were directly related to the Qianjiang District Land and Resources Bureau, such as suspected irregular split registration and issuance of certificates, false land supply and registration for mortgage financing, irregular approval of mortgage financing for public welfare facility land, and duplicate registration for mortgage financing.
The above operations mainly involved investment and financing platform companies under the Qianjiang District government.
For example, in December 2010, Chongqing Hongye Industrial (Group) Co., Ltd., under the Qianjiang District State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, with the consent of the district government, used four parcels of reserved land totaling 808.65 mu for mortgage financing. After paying the land transfer fee, the district land and housing management bureau handled other rights registration for it, which was used for mortgage loans; since 2011, the Qianjiang District government has included 288.3 mu of infrastructure and public welfare facility land, such as the teaching building and student apartments of Chongqing Vocational College of Tourism, the new city gymnasium and stadium, Yangtoushan Cemetery, and the Yangluduan highway maintenance section, into government investment and financing platform mortgage financing through asset transfers and retroactive transfer procedures.
In May 2013, Qianjiang District also registered mortgage rights over three parcels totaling 95.1 mu of state-owned construction land use rights that had already been set for mortgage registration and had not yet been released, together with the buildings on the ground, for counter-guarantee for bonds issued by Chongqing Hongye Industrial (Group) Co.
In addition, Chongqing Hongye Industrial (Group) Co. also used the real estate ownership certificate of Bamao Island Hotel in 2012 to obtain mortgage financing of 86.9 million yuan. After it matured in 2020, Hongye Company built houses on that parcel of land, re-handled the property ownership certificate, and used that real estate ownership certificate to obtain mortgage financing of more than 100 million yuan. The local land and housing management department issued two state-owned land use certificates and property ownership certificates for the same plot (reporter's note: the city handles such certificates by combining the two certificates into one certificate).
Hongye Company's three parcels of land respectively involved Bamao Island Hotel, Standardized Factory Building Phase II, and Gongjia Dayuan. As for the real estate ownership certificate of Gongjia Dayuan, it had already been used in 2009 by Qianjiang City Construction Investment Group Co., another government investment and financing platform company under the Qianjiang District government, together with other properties as collateral for financing of 200 million yuan, maturing in March 2017.
Local people in Qianjiang District believe that conflicts between land demand and shortages of quotas exist all over the country, but illegality and irregularity on such a large scale lack legal support and are not sustainable.
According to the official website of the Qianjiang District government, Qianjiang District has a total area of 2,402 square kilometers. At the end of 2012, the district's total registered population was 545,100, and the urbanization rate was 42.53%. In 2011, the district's gross domestic product reached 12.919 billion yuan.
Land irregularities have also triggered contradictions and conflicts between land-lost farmers and government departments, which remain unresolved to this day.
According to the "Implementation Plan for Rectification Work of the 2014 Routine Inspection in Qianjiang District," in 2009 the district irregularly and artificially changed 16,100 mu of existing agricultural land into construction land, but as of April 2014, the district had covered 11,500 mu through approval methods for conversion of agricultural land and land expropriation.
A 21st Century Business Herald reporter learned that in early September, the district discipline inspection commission handled 17 people in connection with this large-scale irregular and illegal land activity, but the punishments were basically warnings, including one severe warning. It is not yet clear whether there will be further handling actions.
On September 25, a 21st Century Business Herald reporter learned from relevant sources that retroactively completing the land use procedures for most of the irregular and illegal land involved in Qianjiang District this time was also a possible measure the local authorities might take in handling follow-up matters.