by Qiu Lin
DUJIANGYAN, Sichuan, May 10 (Xinhua) -- A two-storey
villa would have been impossible for hog raiser Wang Quan without the joint
reconstruction policy in Dujiangyan, one of the cities hardest hit by last
year's May 12 earthquake. Wang's house in Chaping village became
too dangerous to live in after the 8-magnitude quake.
"I wouldn't be able to afford to build such a house
in 10 years, but now, without paying anything, I'm living in a villa," Wang
says.
When he learned from the village committee in June
that the Chengdu municipal government issued a policy which encouraged people
from the city to jointly build homes with quake-hit farmers, Wang immediately
thought of Zhang Zhonggui.
Zhang, a client of his hoggery business, had said
that he wanted to build a house on Wang's rural housing land in the picturesque
Mt. Qingcheng area, but the law prohibited him from doing so. Now with the new
policy, there is a chance, Wang says.
Under China's existing land ownership structure,
urban land is owned by the state while rural land is owned by the rural
collective. The collective, often a village committee, distributes land-use
rights to households. Rural land includes farmland and rural construction land
for housing, township enterprises and public structures. Farmers are allowed to
transfer their rural housing land use rights to other members within the rural
collective.
"The policy is basically saying that I give up some
of my rural housing land to investors who in return will build a new home for
me," said Wang.
So he contacted Zhang, who agreed to invest 500,000
yuan (about 75,000 U.S. dollars) right away to build two two-storey villas on
Wang's 232 square meters of land.
Wang moved into his new house with his wife, daughter
and uncle in October. His house has a floor area of 132 square meters, with 242
square meters of building area. The house cost Zhang 280,000 yuan.
The rest of Wang's land, or 100 square meters, was
given to Zhang's new country guesthouse which has 170 square meters of building
area. Zhang plans to receive tourists to Mt. Qingcheng.
But the legal footing behind the policy is more
complicated than Wang's initial understanding.
The biggest problem for reconstruction in Dujiangyan is funding, says Luo
Zhaopeng, director of the city's Urban and Rural Planning Department.
The homes of about 130,000 rural families were destroyed or damaged in the
earthquake in Dujiangyan. About one third of these families need to rebuild and
the rest need reinforcement. "Housing reconstruction will cost more than 10
billion yuan," says Luo.
Attracting urban investors will help solve the
funding problem, he says. "But there were many policy restrictions when we
initiated this practice to help the quake-hit farmers rebuild their homes."
Under China's Land Administration Law, rural
collective land use rights cannot be sold, transferred or leased for non-rural
use.
"This means that the law does not forbid the transfer
of rural collective construction land use right for tourism or service except
property development," Luo says.
Since rural housing land use rights can only be
transferred within the village collective, the village collective must
redesignate the part of the rural housing land agreed by farmers and investors
as rural collective construction land, making it transferable for investors, Luo
says.
Individual investors or companies can use the land to
run service businesses such as guesthouses or restaurants.
"Through this process, rural housing land becomes
part of collective construction land which can be transferred legally," says Wu
Jianling, of Chengdu University's Urban and Rural Development Center.
Special Report: 1st Anniversary of Wenchuan
Earthquake
Both Zhang and Wang got two certificates: property
ownership certificates and land use right certificates. For Zhang, it is the
collective rural construction land use right valid for 40 years. With the two
certificates, Zhang will be able to sell his property on the market. But Wang
cannot sell his because his certificate is rural housing land use right, which
cannot be sold on the market.
"I feel that I've benefited a lot. I got a two-storey
villa without paying anything," Wang says. He admits he feels it's a bit unfair
that he cannot sell his house. "It's not that I want to sell it and move to the
city, the air here on the mountain is so much better."
Zheng Houpu, a villager from Weijiang village, has
other concerns. His village has agreed to cooperate with a Beijing-based company
to jointly build homes for quake survivors.
Shi Lin, general manager of Beijing Haohai Lide Tech
Co. Ltd., agreed to build homes for 19 families in Weijiang village, with a
building area of 43 square meters per person. The steel structured houses near
Mt. Qingcheng have wooden floors, fully fitted kitchens and bathrooms.
The company has invested 10 million yuan in the
reconstruction of farmers' houses, says Shi, of which 4 million was used to
build roads, water pipes, electricity lines and sewage system. Shi will also pay
each household the market price of 400 kilograms of rice each year.
In return, the company will get about 200,000 square
meters of land to build a hotel in the mountain woodlands.
Shi is confident of the tourism prospects at this
picturesque mountain and the company plans to invest 30 million yuan in the
hotel project.
"I had my concerns at the beginning because the
policy was not very clear," Shi says. "What if, after we invest the money, the
government says it is illegal?"
Villager Zheng Houpu worries that the company might
fail and be unable of paying the price of 400 kilograms of rice.
Han Jun, director of the State Council Development
Research Centre's Rural Economy Department, says such practices are unsuitable
for other rural areas.
Han, who has just returned from doing research on
countryside policies in Japan, says that the restriction of rural land is even
tighter in Japan. "Japanese farmers are not allowed to sell their rural homes to
city people and there is no way urban people can build houses on rural housing
land."
Han thinks that such practices might trigger disputes
in the future, but "since we are dealing with the quake zones, the situation is
different."
Luo Zhaopeng says land use rights should be freely
transferred as long as the use of the land is not changed. "We shouldn't worry
too much that once the farmers sell their rural housing land or farmland, they
will have no place to live in or nothing to eat," he says. "Instead we should
give them enough freedom and let them decide what to do with their land. The key
point is to improve the social security system for the farmers."
"We are dealing with a different situation here in
the quake zone, it's possible that we will make mistakes, or even clash with
other policies."
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