Curb waste of land resources in urbanization

China must cherish its valuable land resources while urbanizing, says an article in the Southern Metropolis Daily. Excerpts:

The Ministry of Land and Resources will make better use of its land stock in the three urban agglomerations of East China and reduce construction land supplies in area cities, especially in cities with population greater than 5 million.

The rapid urbanization over the past few years increased demand for construction land nationwide. Such land takes up less than 30 percent of the overall planned urban on average globally. But in China’s cities, it is higher than 50 percent.

From 1990 to 2000, the urban construction land area in China expanded by 90.5 percent, while the urban population rose by 52.96 percent.

From 2000 to 2010, urban construction land area increased by 83.41 percent, while the urban population rose by 45.12 percent.

Such inefficient use of the land wastes valuable land resources. Corrupt officials are constantly seeking illegal income from ill-supervised land transfers, which are a big contributor to local government revenue.

But land reform in the countryside has made it possible to break the government’s monopoly of the land market and improve the efficiency of land use.