Local bodies under fire over land deals

Illegal seizures becoming serious issue, Beijing says

Senior land authorities have fired a fresh salvo against local governments, blaming the country's soaring number of land violations on their defiance of central government orders.

Zhang Xinbao, director of the Ministry of Land and Resources' law enforcement and supervision bureau, said local authorities had hampered Beijing's efforts to rein in land misappropriations.

'Illegal land seizures by local governments have become a serious issue, with almost all the main cases involving illegal land use by local governments or relevant leading cadres,' he was quoted by the Beijing News yesterday as saying.

Mr Zhang said despite the repeated crackdowns, the amount of affected land was increasing across the mainland.

'More than 1 million cases of illegal land use were reported between 1999 and 2005, which involved a total area of 5 million mu [330,000 hectares], 1 million mu more than the total area of new construction in 2004,' he said.

Farmers, who received little or no compensation for forced eviction, suffered the most, Mr Zhang added.