Editorials

Enclosures need caution

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-11-08 08:08

There can never be too much caution when it comes to any policy that involves the interests and rights of rural villagers, as they make up 50 percent of the country's population and shoulder the task of guaranteeing the nation's food security.

Now that more than 20 provinces have launched a campaign to move villagers from their traditional houses into concentrated residential buildings, with a view to turning their old homes into arable land, attention is badly needed, by both the central and local governments, to make sure that rural villagers' rights and interests are not encroached upon.

According to a new policy of the central government, each city can only use the quota of land it has been given by the Ministry of Land and Resources for development, unless it acquires more arable land. The more arable land a city can reclaim, the higher their land quota will be for commercial development. This policy is intended to keep the country's arable land at no less than 120 million hectares.

However, local governments see this policy as the opportunity to increase the amount of land available for commercial use by moving rural villagers from their traditional courtyard homes into concentrated residential communities. Their courtyard homes can then be turned into arable land, which greatly increases the amount of arable land in rural areas, and so the land quota for commercial use is also increased.

In North China's Hebei province alone, 7,500 model rural residential villages will be built in three years, and 15 percent of villagers will be moved. It is estimated that in doing so the province will obtain 33,000 hectares of extra arable land, which consequently means that the same area of land in the vicinity of cities will be available for commercial development.

For a local government, land means money. It can be developed for real estate or industrial projects. No wonder local governments are enthusiastic about moving rural villagers into these concentrated communities. An added bonus is that the construction of the buildings also creates jobs and can be a huge boost to local economic growth.

So, it kills more than two birds with one stone. Nevertheless, whether this round of land enclosures will be a win-win game for rural villagers and local government is open to question.

First of all, the new rural villages should be designed and built with enough consideration for the convenience of rural villagers. The buildings should be of sound quality and the villagers' living conditions should substantially improve when they move into their new homes.

Next, how much will rural villagers benefit from the wealth created from the increased land for commercial development? This depends on whether a local government abides by the central government policy to give 50 percent of the income from land development to villagers.

On this issue, the central government must assume that local governments are not to be trusted and thus tighten supervision to make sure that the policy is not subverted for the benefit of the local governments at the expense of rural villagers.

(China Daily 11/08/2010 page8)