3,763 economic development zones canceled
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-04-10 10:41

China has suspended the establishment of new economic development zone and quashed 3,763 of the total 6,015 already-built economic development zones in 2003, a remarkable progress made in the country's land market regulation work.

The information was released by the "Bulletin of China's Land Resources in 2003" released on Friday by the Ministry of Land Resources.

According to the bulletin, China has discovered 178,000 illegal land requisition cases in 2003 and 124,000 of them had been wound up investigation with 5,878 hectares of land retrieved. A total of 925 officials were given disciplinary warning and 132 officials were investigated for criminal liability for illegal land transaction.

The bulletin said about 186,800 hectares of land involved in transaction in 2003, 28 percent of which were transacted through public bidding in a bid to ensure the land transaction justness. The ratio was 13 percent higher than that of the previous year.

In 2003, about 17,000 illegal mining cases were put into investigation and offenders were fined a total of 59.4 million yuan (US$7.18 million), said the report.

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