Official: Reform land acquisition system
By Zhao Huanxin (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-03-09 06:09

The unprecedented spending on rural development must not be dented by corruption, said Vice-Minister of Finance Zhu Zhigang.

"The funds are, in fact, taxpayers' money, which represent the public interest. Any misuse or embezzlement will constitute an infringement on public interest," he said, warning that such practices would be severely dealt with.

The vice-minister said the central budget plans to apportion 339.7 billion yuan (US$41.9 billion) to the rural sector this year, up by 14.2 per cent from 2005. "It means more than one-fifth of the country's increased expenditure (for 2006) will go to the countryside," he said.

The building of a co-operative medicare system in the countryside will get an extra 4.7 billion yuan (US$579.5 million), seven times as much as in last year and another 42.7 billion yuan (US$5.27 billion) will be earmarked for rural infrastructure.

While increased investment will help fuel rural development, the protection of rural resources is also important, said Vice-Minister of Agriculture Yin Chengjie.

Industrialization and urbanization have each year eaten up at least 266,700 hectares of rural land half of them arable land, meaning at least 1 million farmers lose their source of livelihood, Yin said.

He reiterated that the country would implement the "strictest farmland protection measures."