Shanghai's district and county leaders will be held primarily
responsible if any land under their governance is illegally used,
Mayor Han Zheng said yesterday.
Project leaders will also be punished, Han said in a municipal
government conference on the protection of farm land and tightening
of land control.
"It will be added as a main evaluation item for government
officials. They must stick strictly to the rules on land use," Han
said.
Farmers who have moved to make way for city's development should
get reasonable compensation and jobs, Han said.
In China, land is sometimes acquired from farmers for a small
amount of compensation and provincial governments can grab the
lion's share of the profits even if they sell it to foreign
investors at an undervalued price.
Shanghai will further optimize its system on land bids and
auctions, as well as regulating the government's income associated
with land sales, Han said.
The central government set up a land supervision office in
Shanghai last month to keep an eye on land deals in the city
following a corruption scandal involving real-estate and many top
officials in the city.
The Shanghai Land Supervision Office, which will also have
jurisdiction over land deals in the provinces of Zhejiang and
Fujian, is one of nine regional land supervision offices set up by
the Ministry of Land and Resources.
The offices will be staffed by officials sent directly from the
central government that will monitor land transactions at the local
level, the ministry said.
The offices will also monitor local authorities to ensure they
abide by the central government's policies on land use and
macroeconomic controls.
(Shanghai Daily?December 12, 2006)