The central government will step up its efforts in the new year to fight land-related irregularities, a current hot-button issue in the country, said Sun Wensheng, new minister of land and resources, on Saturday.

One important reform expected next year will have local land officials report directly to provincial land offices, rather than city mayors, he said.

"The new mechanism can better ensure the implementation of orders from the central government, tightening the central government's control over land resources," said Sun.

Sun is the first senior official to openly confirm this new vertical management reform, which has long been urged by experts and grass roots land officials to effectively curb rampant land allocation abuse in the country.

In recent years, many local governments have used "local development" as an excuse to force land owners, particularly farmers, to hand over their land at unreasonably low prices.

As a result, these governments have become one of the leading infringers of the country's land management laws and regulations.

Sun said that rectifying land market order is one of the most difficult tasks confronting him.

"Land management is very lax in some areas, while land allocation abuse remains serious," he said.

Therefore, in addition to the administrative mechanism reform, the ministry, under the co-ordination of the State Council, will continue its national land market enquiry next year.

"The public can expect to see more officials with their land allocation abuse deeds exposed," said Sun.

As for efforts undertaken this year, Sun called them a "success" for "putting a halt to the trend of abusing land requisition for economic development zones."

Statistics from the ministry indicate that 2,426 of the country's 6,015 economic development zones or industrial parks were shut down this year, while another 294 merged with others.

Meanwhile, 168,000 land allocation abuse cases have been dealt with and several hundred local officials are under special interrogation.

As a result, as many as 171,333 hectares of arable land from these so-called development zones, where most land has actually been left unattended because of a lack of investment, are expected to be reclaimed to replenish the country's fast shrinking farmland.

(China Daily December 29, 2003)