Chinese authorities attempt to put the brakes on wasteful urban construction
Appearance of empty "ghost towns" in cities across the country prompts action to regulate land use and improve efficiency
Authorities will rein in the rampant construction of new urban districts across China in an attempt to stem the appearance of so-called “ghost towns”, the Ministry of Land and Resources said on Thursday.
Permission will not be given for construction of any new urban area unless central districts of the city have become overcrowded or there is a need to avoid natural disasters, The Beijing News reported Dong Zuoji, head of the ministry’s planning department, as saying.
The aggressive pace of urban development on the mainland has created a large number of sparsely populated urban areas on the fringes of cities. Reports of these newly built business or residential districts turning into empty ghost towns have frequently appeared in the media.
According to an investigation conducted by the ministry at the end of last year, the land used per capita for the construction of new urban districts in China’s 391 cities had reached 197 square metres, far exceeding the figure of 100 square metres per capita stipulated by the central government.
Dong said new urban areas would be planned based on population density, land-use efficiency, and the impact on resources and the environment, and would conform with wider national plans for land use.
“We will regulate and support the [development of new urban districts] strictly according to the standards,” the newspaper quoted Dong as saying.