The Chinese government has punished 1,488 officials involved in
illegal land development affairs, the Ministry of Supervision
said?in Beijing?Friday.
At a briefing on nationwide actions to combat land use
malpractice connected with industrial parks, the ministry said that
927 of them had been given Party disciplinary sanctions and 561
administrative penalties.
About 22,300 cases of illegal land use have been identified and
so far half of them have been dealt with, the source said.
Inspectors found that 24,900 sq km of land had been illegally
allocated to various industrial parks, almost two thirds of the
total land given to them.
Keen to notch up impressive economic development and revenue
figures, some local governments were happy to give land to
developers, ignoring the central government's policy to slow down
investment in fixed assets.
Across the country, the government has managed to clear
compensation arrears of 17.55 billion yuan (US$2.31 billion) for
residents caught up in land seizure cases since 1999.
(Xinhua News Agency July 14, 2007)