Authorities have closed 66 golf courses in a renewed crackdown on courses built in contravention of rules designed to protect arable land and save water, China's top economic planning body said yesterday.

The central government last year ordered the demolition of courses built by five mainly little-known developers, the first real sign of enforcement of a 2004 ban.

The ban was imposed to protect China's shrinking land and water resources in a country home to a fifth of the world's population but which has just 7 percent of its water.

Another reason was because the use of fertiliser and pesticide to grow grass for courses was causing water pollution.

"Governments at all levels and relevant State Council organs have proactively carried out golf course rectification work and have achieved phased results," the National Development and Reform Commission said in a statement.

Three of the courses it named in its list of the 66 shut were in Beijing, with the others spread out across the country.

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