BEIJING - The Ministry of Land and Resources said Thursday that it found 23,000 cases of land misuse in the first half of this year.

The cases involved 136,000 mu (9,066.7 hectares) of land, including 51,000 mu of arable land, according to statistics of the ministry.

Minister Xu Shaoshi said China has seen "a rebound to a various extent" in cases of illegal land-use practices as well as areas of land and arable land that has been misused.

The area of misused land fell 12.5 percent and 1.2 percent from a year earlier in the eastern region and the central part, respectively, but jumped 50.6 percent in western China, according to the ministry.

Xu said illegal use of land in construction of public infrastructure such as roads, railways, airports and water facilities remained high, and the situation was worse in rural areas.

He urged local governments and enterprises to resolutely rectify and stop illegal use of land for mining and other purposes, which could undermine the government's efforts to protect arable land and jeopardize macro controls.