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Compulsory requisition steeped in controversy
2004-04-22
China Daily
Land requisition and relocation programmes are probably the most controversial issues in China today.
The on-going Guangzhou University City project is one of them.
In fact, the situation there is becoming more interesting these days. April 29 is the deadline set to remove all the houses in the Art Village on the Xiaoguwei Island of Guangzhou, Guangdong Province.
The angry owners of these houses handed in urgent appeals to the provincial government on March 22, requesting a stop to the land requisition.
Now, with the deadline just around the corner, they are expecting a last minute miracle.
The government has the right to take back land use rights for key projects as the land is owned by the State.
According to a local official, the government has offered to compensate but could not satisfy the house owners. They do not want to move to apartments in the busy downtown areas provided by the government.
As in other controversial land requisition cases, owners in the Art Village questioned the validity and rationality of the requisition and refused to move.
Dozens of artists, designers and architects started building houses on the island 10 years ago. Today, the 17.33-hectare Art Village is made up of 165 private villa-like homes, all of which were built with legal approval and have lawful property certificates.
However, in early 2002, the Guangzhou municipal government chose Xiaoguwei Island as the location of a new Guangzhou University City.
When completed, it will be the largest university city in China with total acreage of 4,330 hectares, Guangzhou officials say.
Large-scale land requisitions and relocation then swept across the island.
And the parcel of land where the Art Village stands was not exempted from the "enclosure movement."
Last October, house owners put up a request for an administrative review of the requisition, but were turned down by Guangzhou municipal government early last month. Now, their latest appeal is still up in the air.
Compared to other land requisition cases, this one is more arresting because it is about the biggest university city in the country and because the house owners in the Art Village have relatively high social and economic status.
But no matter how particular the case is, the core of the issue is that the local government should handle the case according to law.
Besides, people cannot help wondering: Is it really necessary to remove all residents on the island for the construction of such a university complex?
The local government says that, as an educational project, the university city will serve the public interest. That argument sounds good, but local residents could not help but question the ambitious plan.
Some wondered whether the move to build the biggest university city in the country was not encouraged by a zeal for "image projects" and economic returns.
Except for Guangzhou University, the other nine universities and academies that are to move onto the island already have original campuses and branch campuses. There is no urgent need for the schools to expand onto a third campus.
And, in a funny turn of events, local land authorities have put notices on their website, selling 7 hectares of land on the island for commercial use.
The piece of land where the Art Village sits will not actually be used for the main campus area but rather for roads, grassland or commercial use in the area around it.
Instead of compulsory requisition and relocation, the local government should employ more proper means to satisfy those who are relocated.
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