Facing a severe shortage of construction land for ever expanding road and rail projects, Chinese officials illegally grabbed 700,000 hectares of protected farmland this year already to complete their projects.
According to a survey by the Ministry of Land and Resources, China's provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities are planning to use 1.1 million hectares of land for construction projects in 2011.
Around 40 per cent of this is needed for roads and railways, said Vice-Minister Yun Xiaosu during a national video conference. The State Council, has approved the use of only 400,000 hectares because it wants to protect the country's precious arable land resources.
That means use of about 700,000 hectares of land that is wanted for construction projects has not been approved by the central government, official China Daily reported. According to studies of satellite images from 2009, nearly 20,000 hectares of arable land was illegally used to build roads and railways.
The 20,000 hectares comprised about 57 per cent of the total mass of illegally used arable land that year.
"The satellite images show that the illegal use of land for road and railway construction is a serious problem," Yun said, adding that the situation in 2010 is not likely to be any better.
He said some local authorities ignore the process they are supposed to follow to apply for land through local land bureaus.
