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Save arable land from shrinking

(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-01-12 08:02

Figures released at the 2011 National Land and Resources Conference show land revenue crossed 7 trillion yuan ($1.057 trillion) during the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010), triggering worries over the multi-level hazards created by urban development on land, says an article in Guangming Daily. Excerpts:

The key reason for the increasing dependency on land is rapid urbanization. Unreasonable input-output ratio in some industries and their high dependency on extensive land use have bloated the real estate bubble, which could threaten national financial security and economic operation.

Such dependency could lead to social conflicts, too. Discontent among both farmers and ordinary urban citizens, because of conflict of interests and skyrocketing housing prices, have caused an imbalance in the industrial structure and social life.

To eliminate this dependency, rural land management reform has to be expedited. The land transfer system needs to be reformed further, too. During the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), the government should strictly implement a compensation policy for appropriation of land and improve the settlement mechanism by ensuring enough supply of land for people's livelihood and low-income housing.

Besides, the cost of the system of transferring land-use rights should undergo reform to solve the secondary development of urban land use. Since China has a huge population but limited land, only by instituting the strictest system for saving land can the total arable land area be prevented from shrinking further.