Starting next month, Beijing will investigate and prosecute major cases of illegal use of land, especially those that violate government plans or national industrial policies and those that infringe on farmers' legitimate rights, Beijing News reported on Saturday, quoting An Jiasheng, director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Land and Resources.

Authorities can now avail themselves of satellite remote sensing technologies to discover and prevent the illegal use of land, An told a conference on Friday.

Land use regulations in Beijing have been ignored by unscrupulous profiteers, Beijing News said, quoting the municipal government.

The Chinese central government tightened control over land after the economy grew 10.9 percent in the first half, promising to penalize local officials who fail to stop or investigate land use transgressions.

The Ministry of Land and Resources said that local governments must not approve more land for construction next year than they did this year.

"The principle is to strengthen macro-economic control and use land resources economically," it said, adding that localities must make use of land "scientifically and rationally" to protect farmland and land for other agricultural purposes.

It urged localities to coordinate with the State Council to implement macro-economic control policies and prevent runaway fixed-asset investment.

China's fixed asset investment rose to 7.19 trillion yuan (US$899 billion) in the first nine months, up 27.3 percent year-on-year.

The growth rate was down 2.5 percentage points on the first half but is still 1.2 percentage points higher than the same period of last year.

To further consolidate macro-economic control, sources with the Ministry's Planning Department warned local governments against rushing through land use approvals in the final three months of the year. In September, senior leaders of central China's Henan Province, were disciplined for illegally authorizing the occupation and use of land.