Better supervision is necessary to safeguard land, says an
article in Yanzhao Metropolis News. The following is an
excerpt:
The Ministry of Land and Resources and the Ministry of
Supervision publicized the results of their joint inspections,
citing 10 cases of major violations in land acquisition.
One of the most widely reported cases occurred in Kaiping
county, Guangdong Province, where leaders of the local government
were stripped of their Party and government posts for illegally
approving about 2,000 hectares of farmland for industrial use.
The punishment meted out to the officials could be the most
severe one for illegal land use.
Besides applauding the upholding of justice, we should also
learn some lessons from the case. The area of illegally approved
land - 2,000 hectares - is large compared to the area of the
county. But the approval was not stopped even when the national
campaign against illegal land use was on. The local officials made
false reports about land use when inspection teams from the central
and provincial governments visited them.
The illegal land use in Kaiping was supported not only by the
department of land and resources, but also the heads of the city
government, which made it easy for them to cover it up.
It is therefore necessary to enhance the supervision of local
governments, at least in respect to land use approval. It is also
necessary to improve the current rules and regulations pertaining
to land use to plug the possible loopholes.
The officials in Kaiping violated the rules because they wanted
to enhance their professional achievements or to make profits for
themselves. But more importantly, they did not feel a pressure from
strong supervision. Such supervision should be given to specialists
and the public. It is necessary to motivate all factors to watch
over our precious land resource.
(China Daily December 13, 2007)