Developers could face fines of up to 10 percent of the total
budget of their projects if they try to build without permission or
do not follow plans.
A draft law proposed yesterday said developments without
planning permits or deviating from approved plans will be stopped
and the builders fined between 5 and 10 percent of the project's
budget.
If developers refuse to halt construction, local governments
will have the power to close down the building site and demolish
the partly-built development.
The tough draft law was discussed for the first time yesterday
by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress
(NPC).
Minister of Construction Wang Guangtao said that one of its main
aims is to prevent developers from recklessly violating approved
plans.
"Punishing these planning violations has long been a headache
because of the lack of clear laws and regulations," he said. "This
time, we made it clear."
The draft law could also be used to prevent local governments
from changing plans frequently, as it details procedures for making
and changing plans, according to the minister.
Under the law, plans could be changed if a higher-level plan is
changed, or if the State Council approves major construction
projects nearby and existing plans need changing to adapt to
it.
In some circumstances other higher-level governments will also
be able to revise plans.
Government officials who refuse to adhere to the law would face
personal punishments such as being removed from their posts.
Wang accused local governments of blindly chasing urban
development and approving "vanity projects".
He said that in some areas ongoing developments were redrawn
when local leaders were replaced.
"We want to make it clear that a region's development plan
should not change just because individual government officials want
it to," the minister said.
Wang also highlighted the law's role in better coordinating
planning in urban and rural areas.
He said the existing two-tiered planning system, which took
shape in the early 1990s after the passing of the Urban Planning
Law and State Council regulations on rural planning, lag behind the
development of the economy.
"New problems have emerged in urban and rural planning," he
said. "Misuse of land is serious in some rural areas, and current
rural planning is inadequate and fails to meet the needs of
farmers."
He added that a coordinated approach to urban and rural planning
is needed to avoid unnecessary developments wasting land,
particularly in prosperous areas rapidly being developed such as
the Yangtze and Pearl river deltas.
The NPC Standing Committee will continue to discuss the draft
law today.
(China Daily April 25, 2007)