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yanhe east road has been closed down. photo by ju feng, people's daily online

over the past six months, the southern section of yanhe east road, a 500-meter-long municipal road in lianshui county, jiangsu province, has gone through a series of ups and downs, from construction to suspension, and then to suspension again. ms. zhang, a resident of a nearby community, was looking forward to the construction of this section of the road because "there is only a three- or four-meter-wide cement road to the south," but she couldn't understand the on-and-off construction situation until she heard that yanhe east road was "in the news" for illegal land occupation not long ago.

on july 29, the jiangsu provincial department of natural resources publicly reported on the second batch of five cases of illegal land occupation that were put on the list for supervision in 2024.lianshui county housing and construction bureau illegally occupied land to build yanhe east roadthis is a case of a local government department "getting on the bus first and buying the ticket later", and similar situations are not uncommon in jiangsu.

"deepen the promotion of administration according to law." the third plenary session of the 20th cpc central committee clearly required the promotion of the legalization of government agencies, functions, powers, procedures and responsibilities. zhu lijia, a professor at the central party school (national school of administration), said that local government departments' "construction before approval" set a bad example for the construction of a law-based government and would also damage the government's credibility and legal authority. governments at all levels should complete administrative work and public services in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.

the county housing and construction bureau was notified of illegal land occupation

the southern section of yanhe east road is located in the binhe new town of lianshui county. it is about 500 meters long, connected to longteng avenue in the south and chenxi road in the north. there are daguan community committee and several residential communities nearby. during an on-site interview by people's daily online, it was found that the road section is designed as a two-way four-lane road, and the first layer of water-stabilizing layer has been completed.

the bidding materials provided by the lianshui county housing and urban-rural development bureau show that the estimated contract price of the yanhe east road south section (chenxi road-longteng avenue) road engineering project is approximately 13.16 million yuan, with a construction period of 150 days and a planned start date of march 20, 2023.

"the project actually started at the end of last year." xu rui, head of the engineering section of the lianshui county housing and urban-rural development bureau, admitted that after the start of construction, the county natural resources and planning bureau (hereinafter referred to as the "county natural resources and planning bureau") issued a letter of assignment for illegal land use, and construction was stopped once, and then resumed.

sang longyue, the captain of the law enforcement and supervision team of the bureau of land and resources of lianshui county, said that they did go to the site and verbally informed the construction party, but did not take any measures to file a case because the road surface had not yet been hardened. it was not until june this year that the jiangsu provincial department of natural resources discovered the illegal construction of land occupation on yanhe east road through satellite remote sensing monitoring. subsequently, the law enforcement and supervision team of the bureau of land and resources of lianshui county formally filed a case.

according to a report from the jiangsu provincial department of natural resources, in december 2023, the lianshui county housing and urban-rural development bureau occupied 6.71 acres (5.6 acres of arable land) of the collective land of the daguan community committee of liancheng street, lianshui county without approval to build yanhe east road.

xiao jincheng, chairman of the china society of land economics, pointed out in an interview with people's daily that major projects, public facilities, etc. that need to occupy arable land must be strictly approved and used through "balance between occupation and compensation."

according to the lianshui county housing and construction bureau, this road is a local livelihood project and has been suspended for rectification due to incomplete relevant procedures. as of press time, people's daily online learned from the bureau's staff that the land acquisition procedures for the construction of yanhe east road are still under review."construction must be carried out only after ensuring that it is legal and compliant."

why is construction without approval still happening despite repeated bans?

the basic situation of jiangsu province is that there are many people and little land.in recent years, jiangsu has strictly implemented the farmland protection system and adopted hard measures with "teeth" to strictly enforce the law and supervision. the trend of continuous reduction in the total amount of farmland has been initially curbed. however, there are still problems such as some infrastructure projects illegally occupying land and not being effectively stopped, and being built without approval.

as early as september 2011, the "implementation measures for public notification and supervision of illegal and irregular cases of land and resources in jiangsu province" was issued and implemented, and the case reporting and supervision mechanism has continued to this day.

since the 14th five-year plan, in addition to the lianshui county housing and urban-rural development bureau, several government units in jiangsu have been publicly notified by the jiangsu provincial department of natural resources for illegal land occupation: in july 2021,huaian district transportation management office, huaian cityunauthorized occupation of 15 mu (9.5 mu of cultivated land) of chuanyun village, hexia street, to build bus maintenance sheds, roads, etc., of which 2.77 mu did not comply with the national land space planning; in november 2021,suzhou wujiang economic development zone construction bureauwithout approval, 12.69 mu (5.41 mu of cultivated land) of qingshuwan village, jiangling street was occupied without authorization to build the northern section of the dongwu south road-luxiang north road project; in april 2022,lianyungang guannan economic development zone management committeewithout approval, 22.84 mu of collective land (15.62 mu of cultivated land) of xiaomiao village, xin'an town was occupied to build roads; in september 2022,yangzhou gaoyou transportation bureauillegal occupation of 4.74 mu of land in zhenxing village, ganduo town (involving 1.53 mu of permanent basic farmland) to build the eastern extension of ganping road; in july 2023,lianyungang donghai county housing and urban-rural development bureauwithout approval, 27.45 acres of collective land of wangdong village, niushan street and xiliu village, shiliu street were occupied without authorization to build minshun road and min'an road, including 26.01 acres of cultivated land.

in some places, illegal occupation of arable land continues despite repeated prohibitions, and even supervision at the same level is ineffective. what is the crux of the problem?

a relevant person in charge of the law enforcement supervision bureau of the jiangsu provincial department of natural resources said that effectively stopping illegal land occupation is a current practical problem that plagues land law enforcement. the natural resources department has the function of administrative punishment and has the right to order the violators to stop the illegal behavior in accordance with the law, but there are no compulsory measures and in reality the illegal behavior may not be stopped.

enterprises and individuals who illegally occupy land will be punished accordingly, so who will be held accountable for illegal land occupation by government-led infrastructure? the person in charge said that no matter who the land user is, as long as the land is occupied illegally and in violation of laws and regulations, it must be investigated and dealt with in accordance with laws and regulations, and both "investigating the matter" and "investigating the person" must be investigated. "investigating the matter" means strictly investigating and dealing with illegal land occupation in accordance with laws and regulations such as the "land administration law" and the "administrative penalty law". "investigating the person" means that those who are responsible for illegal land occupation must be transferred to the disciplinary inspection and supervision organs in accordance with relevant party and government discipline regulations to be held accountable; those suspected of criminal offenses must be transferred to the public security organs for criminal prosecution. he also made it clear:"people's livelihood projects cannot be used as a 'shield' for construction without approval."

in the case of the illegal land occupation by the housing and construction bureau of lianshui county, the county land and resources bureau resumed work after sending a letter. in the view of legal expert liu xiaobing, the problem of ineffective peer supervision is actually that the county government, as the primary responsible party, is perfunctory in its duties, and the horizontal power supervision and restriction mechanism needs to be strengthened. "the construction of a law-based government is not an overnight task, and it requires the establishment of legal authority.lock power in a cage."liu xiaobing said.