The central government has repeatedly ordered strict control over the land supply gate and strict restrictions on the scale of construction land. However, a large number of "lease instead of requisition" behaviors have undermined the effect of the land gate. In 2006, the State Council's "Notice on Issues Related to Strengthening Land Control" stipulated that the main leaders of local governments at all levels should be fully responsible for the amount of arable land and basic farmland protection areas in their administrative regions, as well as the implementation of land use plans and annual plans. If serious consequences result from land violations in the administrative region, the leadership responsibilities of relevant local government leaders will be pursued. It clearly prohibits the use of farmers' collectively owned agricultural land for non-agricultural construction through methods such as "lease instead of requisition," which arbitrarily expands the scale of construction land. Any approval by state officials of land use without legally processed agricultural land conversion procedures through methods such as "lease instead of requisition" is considered illegal approval behavior. Units and individuals who occupy land through methods such as "lease instead of requisition" are engaging in illegal land occupation and must be held legally accountable.
However, the Tianqi Resort project located in Yandun Town, southern Naling County, Wuhu City, continues to destroy forests for hotel development using the "lease instead of requisition" method. This violates multiple laws and regulations including the "Forest Law," "Environmental Protection Law," "Land Management Law," "Regulations on Punishments for Violations of Land Management Provisions," "Construction Law," and "Urban and Rural Planning Law."
Villagers in Yandun Town said that in what should be forested areas, they used the "lease instead of requisition" method, pretending to develop ecological agriculture while actually developing hotels. This has caused massive destruction of forests, leading to soil erosion...
The webpage of the Yandun Town government shows that the Tianqi Resort was invested in by Tianqi Automotive Parts Co., Ltd. with an investment of 20 million yuan, constructing the Tianqi Agricultural Ecological Tourism Park in Liudian Village. The park covers an area of 600,000 square meters (about 900 acres). It will be built into "one park, two centers" for accommodation and dining. The entire park construction period is two years.
Director Hua of the Construction Bureau's office stated that the planning permit for the Tianqi Resort had not been issued by the Construction Committee. He also called in the staff member in charge of planning, surnamed Song. According to Song, the Tianqi Resort signed agreements with each household, leasing the land.
The deputy director of the Naling County Administrative Law Enforcement Bureau’s office said: within the urban planning area, it is managed by the Administrative Law Enforcement Bureau; for violations in towns, they are handled by the town enforcement team...
According to Zhang Wei, the vice-town mayor in charge of land in Yandun Town, the boss of the resort surnamed Wang signed lease agreements with 26 households in June 2009 for a lease term of 35 years, paying in three installments at a rate of 300 yuan per mu annually. The first payment covered 15 years. The project is divided into three phases, with the first phase covering approximately 157 mu.
At the same time, he emphasized that the project was reviewed by experts hired by the county, designed by the design institute, and involved departments such as land resources, construction committee, and tourism. The Development and Reform Commission has already approved the project and reported it to the province. All procedures are available at the Land Resources Office, but the staff were not present in the morning and had a meeting in the afternoon.
Vice-Town Mayor Zhang Wei said, 'He is the captain of the law enforcement team. The county enforcement bureau will assist in investigating violations in the town, but there is no issue of investigation for the Tianqi Resort. We will fax you the materials in a few days.'
Deputy Minister Luo of the publicity department, who oversees news, said that the boss of the Tianqi Resort is a well-developed worker from Yandun Town who returned home to invest for the benefit of the people of Yandun and to promote economic development in Yandun Town. Since Yandun Town is a small town that cannot develop industry, it can only focus on tourism to drive economic development. He also indicated that by August 13th, Yandun Town Government, the Land Resources Bureau, and relevant departments would provide handling opinions on this matter.
As of the time of publication, our website has not received any response from Naling County. We will continue to follow the development of the situation... (By Huihua Si and Ning Liu)
Relevant Link: In 2008, the Ministry of Supervision, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and the Ministry of Land and Resources jointly issued Order No. 15 of the "Regulations on Punishment for Violations of Land Management Provisions," where Article 3 points out: if the land management order is chaotic, resulting in the proportion of illegally occupied arable land in the administrative region reaching more than 15% of the total newly added construction land occupying arable land in one year, or even if it does not reach 15%, but causes serious impact or other severe consequences; then warnings or records of misconduct will be given to the main leaders and other responsible leaders of the county-level or higher local governments; for more serious cases, major records of misconduct or demotions will be given; for very serious cases, dismissal will be given.
Recently, the Ministry of Land and Resources, the National Development and Reform Commission, and nine other ministries jointly issued a notice requiring rectification of illegal land use in key projects. The notice states that an "illegal land use project list" will be established, thereby restricting them in aspects such as investment arrangements, environmental assessments of construction projects, and bidding for construction projects. The notice indicates that no construction shall begin without legally processed land use procedures.