Chinese Land and Resources Minister Tian Fengshan pledged to establish a "well-regulated, fair and transparent" land market yesterday, on the eve of National Land Day.

The theme of this year's event is to "further regulate the land market."

Tian said the ministry should use all its legal, administrative and economic powers to prevent land right abuses and severely punish officials who break the law.

Shu Kexin, deputy-director of the ministry's Land Use Department, said there are still major challenges ahead for the country's recently established land market. Under the new system, the market allocates land resources in order to prevent corruption.

The abuse of power by local officials is still a major obstacle to fair and transparent transfers of land "use rights," according to Shu.

"Although the ministry has stipulated that the use of land for profit, such as for tourism and real estate development, should be transferred through public bidding, some local officials are still engaged in backroom deals," he said.

Last year, the market oversaw the transfer of use rights for almost a quarter of the total land area involved in such transactions.

But Shu said the figure should rise to 40 to 50 per cent.

Shu said backroom land deals are being targetted in the ongoing national review of the market, which is due to wrap up at the end of October.

Although the ministry has refused to release details of the review, it faces a difficult task in weeding out corruption, according to some local authorities.

An anonymous source with the provincial land authority of Central China's Hunan Province told China Daily yesterday that it was hard to punish local officials found breaking the law.

"In many cases, the land use rights are transferred too cheaply under the guise of attracting outside investment," he said.

The land authority has exposed 17 major corrupt land deals, mostly involving local governments, each of which involves a land area of more than 6.7 hectares.

The ministry has also issued a special regulation governing transfers of land use rights through negotiation, which account for over 90 per cent of such transactions in many regions. It will take effect on August 1.

"Better regulation of the transfer of land use rights through negotiation will make it more difficult for officials to hand out land at will or at 'attractively low' prices," said Shu.

The new regulation stipulates officials must publish information on the land in question before transferring use rights, involve several people in the decision-making process, and release details of the decision made.

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