China is facing a severe shortage of construction land, and projects including road and rail expansion plan to illegally grab 700,000 hectares of protected farmland in 2011 to meet their needs.

According to a survey by the Ministry of Land and Resources, China's provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities are planning to use 1.1 million hectares of land for construction in 2011. Around 40 percent is needed for roads and railways, said Vice-Minister Yun Xiaosu during a national video conference on Thursday.

The State Council, though, has approved the use of only 400,000 hectares because it wants to protect the country's precious arable land resources.

That means use of about 700,000 hectares of land that is wanted for construction projects has not been approved by the central government.

Because illegal land use for road and railway construction has become a serious problem, China is planning to launch a national crackdown and will be taking a close look at all ongoing road and railway projects, the ministry said.

The national land watchdog plans to make public the details of severe cases of misuse of land and punish people responsible.

The latest case involving the illegal use of land for a railway project was in Fengcheng city, Liaoning province, where China Construction Railway Co Ltd illegally used more than 9 hectares of mainly arable land that had not been slated for construction by the central government.

The land was misappropriated in June 2010, according to the Liaoning land bureau.