Villa project in Heilongjiang faces probe

The Party chief of Heilongjiang province in Northeast China ordered an investigation into the alleged illegal villa construction deep in the forest in Mudanjiang city after media reports claimed the unapproved villa project had damaged the local environment.

According to reports, starting in 2005, a group of private villas began to be constructed in a State-owned forest region in Mudanjiang, a city that is rich in forest resources. It was reportedly an unapproved project and many trees were allegedly cut and the original local landscape was destroyed. The project has still not opened to the public.

The local government ordered demolition of the villas and issued fine three times, but they all came to no result.

Zhang qingwei, Party chief of Heilogjiang, held a meeting on the issue on Tuesday. He called to set up an investigation team to find out the facts of violation promptly and release the results of the investigation to the public in time.

The National Forestry and Grassland Administration said on Wednesday that they have set up an inspection team for further investigation.