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Strategies & Market Trends : China Warehouse- More Than Crockery -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RealMuLan who wrote (2838)	3/16/2004 3:40:29 PM
From: RealMuLan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6370

Wen `iron fist' prompts land reforms Wu Zhong China will kick off a profound reform of its land administration system following Premier Wen Jiabao's exhortation for an ``iron fist'' crackdown on rampant illegal land requisition across the country. Government officials say the reform has two important aims - one, to use land reform for macroeconomic adjustment, the second, to deprive local governments of the ability to transfer land-use rights. The government says it is acting out of a sense of both economic and environmental urgency. Urbanisation, construction, natural disasters and reforestation destroyed more than 2.5 million hectares of agricultural land in China last year, contributing to the country's flagging ability to feed its own people. Nearly 45,000 hectares, or a fifth of the 230,000-odd hectares of cropland requisitioned for construction were obtained illegally, a rise of 56 per cent from the year before. Another 2.237 million hectares of cropland were taken out of production for the purpose of restoring the environment, the ministry said. Construction of highways across the country last year alone destroyed 37,733 hectares, 25 per cent more than in 2002. Natural disasters destroyed another 50,400 hectares. Despite a growing effort to slow or reverse the problem, illegal land requisitions for construction and development actually worsened last year. The first step in land reform will be to turn the Ministry of Land and Resources into a central government department for macro-level economic adjustment, like the central bank. This will enable land policy to be used as a weapon to regulate the economy in much the same way as the government uses monetary policy, according to Minister of Land Resources Sun Wensheng. For instance, the central government believes it can freeze land supply to restrict the expansion of industries such as steel, aluminium and cement, said Shu Kexin, deputy director of the land use department under the Ministry of Land and Resources. ``To a certain extent, regulating land supply is more important and effective than tightening credit [to these industries]. Any project can only be built only on land but cannot be in the air,'' Shu said. To help cool over-investment in these industries, the ministry plans to reduce the target for this year's land requisition for construction by more than 20 per cent, Shu said, adding this will be the first time the ministry will regulate land supply to help adjust the country's economy at the macro level. Sun and Shu made the remarks in Beijing on the sidelines of the 10-day annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC) that closed on Sunday. To achieve its goal, Beijing must centralise land supply. Therefore the second aim of the reform is to deprive local governments below provincial level of the power to approve transfer of land-use rights. Currently governments at all levels are delegated the power to grant permission for requisition of land within a certain scope. However, this is a major source of illegal land requisition as local governments often abuse their power to allocate more land than authorised for construction and development. Last year authorities began a nationwide crackdown on illegal land requisition. Of the 168,000 cases under investigation, 80 per cent were in fact committed by township, county and city governments, according to Zhang Xinbao, director of the law enforcement and supervision department under the Ministry of Land and Resources. At a press conference in Beijing on Monday, Zhang revealed five cases in which a dozen local officials have been disciplined, with two arrested on suspected corruption. Premier Wen has ordered that officials who abuse their power in land administration should be punished more severely, Zhang said. With the reform, Beijing wants to retrieve the power of land administration from township, county and city governments, Sun announced earlier. Thereafter, only land authorities of provincial governments will be authorised to grant permission for land requisition. This means the land and resources departments now under township, county and city governments will come directly under the provincial governments' land authority. 17 March 2004 / 01:58 AM thestandard.com.hk