Guangdong sets payouts for land requisition
Guangdong authorities have set benchmarks for the compensation payable for requisition of farmland, mandating payouts of more than 1 million yuan per hectare for the most valuable lots.
But a local analyst said the payouts were conservative and might have to be revised soon.
The standards contained in 'The Protective Standards for Land Requisition Compensation in Guangdong' officially came into effect on July 25, but were only reported yesterday in local media.
The compensation benchmarks classify farmland into 10 grades depending on location, and subdivide those categories into four types - forest land, garden land, cropland and aquaculture land.
The reports did not specify who would receive the money but said aquaculture areas would attract payouts of up to 1,032,800 yuan per hectare, cropland up to 994,500 yuan per hectare, garden land up to 765,000 yuan per hectare and forest land up to 306,000 yuan per hectare.
The Guangdong Land and Resources Department said the benchmarks would be revised every two to three years.
It said every local land authority should abide strictly by the benchmarks and that land requisition applications offering compensation lower than the new limits would not be approved.
But the authority said Shenzhen was exempt from the compensation rules.
Sun Jian, an agricultural economist with the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences, said the benchmarks were conservative and relatively low, and could be raised in a year or so.
Professor Sun said the rules would help reduce disputes over farmland requisition, but it was also important to have regulations to prevent local officials stealing the money. In the past, compensation has been filtered to recipients through various layers of government.
