China to further clamp down on illegal development of farmland

BEIJING, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- China's State Council issued a circular on Tuesday to further clamp down on the illegal development of farmland, as part of its efforts to improve land use efficiency.

"Any construction project that needs to occupy farmland or idle land in rural areas will need official approval," said the circular.

The building of farmers' houses, enterprises and public facilities in rural areas shall comply with the overall planning of local towns and villages and be listed in their annual land use plan, it said.

"Construction projects that will take up arable land collectively owned by villages and farmers must apply for the certificate allowing the transformation of farmland for other purposes," it said.

Without the certificate, the projects shall also be denied other relevant permits by the construction, city planning, real estate management as well as land and resources departments, it said.

"No water, power and gas shall be provided for these projects, and no financial institutions shall be permitted to offer them loans," it said.

Urban dwellers are banned from buying residential land or houses from farmers, nor are they allowed to buy apartments developed in rural areas by local authorities in violation of the state regulations, it stressed.

Village committees have been found to sell local land furtively to property developers and issue informal property ownership certificates to house buyers.

Soaring house prices in large cities have driven many urbanites to buy cheap houses in rural outskirts, where many real estate projects are built without approval from the local land watchdog.

"No work units and individuals are allowed to sign contracts with villages or farmers in private to develop farmland or unused land in rural areas," the circular said.

Illegal development of large areas of arable land will be subject to criminal charges, it said.

The circular also noted that each rural household is allowed to have only one patch of housing land, and the land can not be distributed to farmers out of the local village.

"Farmers who sell or rent out their village houses will be rejected if applying for a new patch of housing land," it said.

The circular came immediately after Monday's notice by the State Council, which called on land conservation and higher efficiency of land use.

"If land approved for development remains unused for more than two years, it should be recovered by the government according to laws and regulations. If the land remains idle for more than one year and less than two years, land developers should pay a 20 percent non-usage fee," the previous notice said.

China is facing a sharp conflict between land supply and demand, and the area of arable land, which had shrunk by 4.6 million mu from the end of last year to 1.827 billion mu, was only slightly above the minimum of 1.8 billion mu (120 million hectares) set by the government.

The government has quintupled tax on the use of arable land for non-farming purposes and is charging foreign-invested companies as much as their domestic peers to protect farm land and better control land supply.