To slow the encroachment of property development on farmland, the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources has confirmed media reports that from next year it will double land-use fees for new constructions nationwide.
In a joint notice issued yesterday, the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources, the People's Bank of China, and the Ministry of Finance said raising the 'land-use fee upon consideration of new construction' by 100 per cent was also intended to cool fixed-asset investment.
'The adjustment is intended to further conserve farmland and promote conservative land use,' they said in a joint press release carried on the Ministry of Finance website.
'It is also intended to better control land management and adjust the overly rapid growth of fixed-asset investment.'
The conversion of rural land, often illegally, for non-agricultural use, such as residential and industrial development, has been a major source of tension on the mainland, with about 40 million farmers losing their land in the past 10 years.
Estimates suggested another 15 million farmers were at risk of losing their land by 2010 if land conversion was not slowed.
