China will halt and prohibit all business-oriented land reclamation activities and abolish local governments’ authority over the matter in the strictest-ever control over reclamation, according to the State Oceanic Administration.
Lin Shanqing, deputy director of the administration, said on Jan 17 that the government will nationalize reclaimed land with no structures built on it and will halt reclamation projects that have yet to be opened and are against national policies.
The central government will stop approving property development plans based on land reclamation and will prohibit all reclamation activities unless they pertain to national key infrastructure, public welfare or national defense, he said, adding that local authorities will no longer have the power to approve reclamation projects.
All structures that are built on illegally reclaimed land and that have seriously damaged the marine environment will be demolished, Lin added.
He said the government will tighten review and inspection procedures on applications for reclamation and other uses of the sea.
Gu Wu, head of the administration’s National Marine Inspection Office, said that in the past, land reclamation, to a certain extent, helped to boost economic development by mitigating the land shortage in coastal regions and providing space for public infrastructure and industry parks.
However, illegal and irregular reclamation activities caused a number of problems to marine ecosystems and lawful businesses, she said.
Gu said that those effects have become a major public concern, so the administration decided that reclamation would be closely looked at in its annual inspection last year.
Four coastal provinces-Liaoning, Hebei, Jiangsu, Fujian-as well as the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and the island province of Hainan were subject to reclamation inspections in 2017.