China's Ministry of Land and Resources said on Tuesday that over 60 percent of the new land acquisitions for construction purposes in Chinese cities since last September are illegal.

The figure is even as high as 90 percent in some cities, said the ministry, quoting data collected from its latest check of land use.

A survey conducted by the ministry in 15 cities last year shows that from October 2003 to September 2005, 52.8 percent of the land acquisitions for construction were illegal.

The ministry has demanded its provincial counterparts expose at least three illegal cases in June and more than eight cases by the end of the year.

If they do not investigate the illegal cases, the local land and resources departments should be deprived of the power to ratify new land use, said the ministry.

Surging land demand has led to soaring investment and fast growth of fixed asset investment. Government statistics show that China's fixed asset investment rose 29.6 percent to 1.8 trillion yuan (224.7 billion U.S. dollars) in the first four months.

The central government has adopted administrative and financial measures to cap the overheated real estate sector. But the local governments did not strictly follow the regulations due to various considerations concerning local interests.

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