Beijing tightens control over land
Tightening control of the release of land for development has emerged as one of Beijing’s key weapons to rein in the surge in investment behind economic growth of nearly 11 per cent in the first half of the year.
The announcement of stricter rules for developing land coincided with the publication of a speech by Hu Jintao, China’s president, who reaffirmed the government’s resolve to “control the scale of fixed asset investment”.
Mr Hu’s speech, delivered on Friday but released on Monday, contained “six requirements” for meeting Beijing’s economic goals, ranging from lifting domestic consumption to investing in rural infrastructure.
Mr Hu rarely speaks on the economy, which is the direct responsibility of Wen Jiabao, the prime minister, and his intervention is a strong signal that Beijing will continue to introduce tightening measures.
Overall, however, Mr Hu’s concerns were focused less on the speed of growth than its poor quality, through over-investment in polluting, non-productive industries.
He said the government should adopt effective measures over “credit, land and the environment?.?.?.?to curb aimless expansion of industries with high consumption of energy, serious pollution and excess capacity”.
The enforcement of stricter rules over the release of land, announced in recent days by the ministry of land and resources, is also aimed at trying to rebalance the economy and restrain unproductive investment.
Land controls are especially important, as the government has limited market mechanisms at its disposal because of its refusal to allow greater currency flexibility in the short-term and its reluctance to allow interest rates to rise.
The ministry has set up nine regional teams staffed by officials from Beijing whose job will be to supervise the approval of land for development.
“Putting it more bluntly, these offices are in charge of ‘stopping’ illegal land supply,” said Jun Ma, of Deutsche Bank, in a note to investors. Mr Ma said Beijing policymakers had realised they had not been able to control investment because local governments had continued to ignore their directives on the issue.
In 15 large cities surveyed by the ministry, 64 per cent of local land transactions in the 12 months from October 2003 were illegal. From September 2004, the rate rose to as high as 90 per cent.
Although China’s coastal regions have traditionally been the fastest growing areas in the country, that is changing. In the first half of this year, the highest rate of increase in urban investment was recorded by Hefei, the capital of Anhui, a populous inland province, at 112 per cent year-on-year.
中国加强控制土地
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强开发用地控制，已经成为中国政府抑制投资过快增长的主要手段之一。中国经济今年上半年增长近11%，其主要推动力之一就是中国国内的投资热潮。
在公布更加严格的开发用地规定之际，中国政府还发布国家主席胡锦涛的一份讲话稿。他在讲话中再次重申了中国政府“控制固定资产投资规模”的决心。
胡锦涛是上周五发表这次讲话的，但讲话稿直到周一才公开发布。讲话内容包括为实现中国政府经济目标而提出的“6点要求”，涵盖了从扩大内需到农村基础设施投资等方面的问题。
胡锦涛很少就经济问题发表讲话，因为经济事务由国务院总理温家宝直接负责。他的介入是一个强烈信号，表明中国政府将继续采取紧缩政策。
但总的来说，与经济增长速度相比，胡锦涛更加担心的是经济增长质量，因为中国的经济增长是通过对污染行业和非生产性行业的过度投资而取得的。
他表示，政府应该从“信贷、土地、环境等方面采取有效措施，坚决抑制高耗能、高污染和产能过剩行业盲目扩张”。
中国国土资源部最近公布了更为严格的用地审批规定。实施这些措施，也是旨在努力重新平衡经济增长，控制非生产性投资。
由于拒绝在短期内赋予人民币汇率更大的灵活性，且不愿意提高利率，因此中国政府手中可以使用的市场机制非常有限。在这种情况下，土地控制手段尤为重要。
国土资源部已经成立了9个派驻地方的国有土地督察局，其工作人员均来自国土资源部，其职责是监督各地开发用地的审批情况。
德意志银行(Deutsche Bank)经济学家马骏(Jun Ma)在一份发给投资者的报告中称：“说白了，9个督察局的任务就是负责‘阻止’非法土地供应。”马俊表示，中国政府的决策者已经认识到，他们无法控制投资增速，原因就在于地方政府在这个问题上一向无视中央政府的指示。
在国土资源部调查的15个大城市中，自2003年10月起的12个月内，有64%的土地交易是违法交易。2004年9月以来，一些城市违法用地比例甚至高达90%。
尽管中国沿海地区一直是中国增长最快的地区，但这种情况正在发生变化。今年上半年，就各地城镇固定资产投资增长率而言，以安徽省会合肥为最高，其上半年的固定资产投资较去年同期增长了115%。
