Booming south China province faces land shortage
BEIJING, Nov 29 (Reuters) - China's booming southern province of Guangdong is facing a huge urban land shortage due to years of unlimited factory expansion, state media said on Thursday.
Guangdong, which borders Hong Kong, is home to tens of thousands of Hong Kong- and Taiwan-invested factories due to years of attracting investors with low-cost and even free land.
"Just 6 percent of the urban land reserves remain undeveloped," Wen Chunyang, official from the Guangdong Urban and Rural Planning and Design Institute, was quoted by the China Daily as saying.
"(It) is insufficient to sustain healthy and consistent economic growth."
The province, with nearly 100 million people, has been a dynamo of China's economic growth since reforms started nearly 30 years ago. Last year, the province accounted for an eighth of the country's overall economic growth.
"With supply lagging far behind demand, some local governments have started exploiting farmland for urban construction projects," Wen said.
"In the long run, this will have a detrimental impact on the province."
China's cities have been the focus of official efforts to clean factory smoke and car exhaust from often smoggy skies. But as richer areas have set stricter controls, polluting factories have sprung up in the poorer countryside. (Reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Nick Macfie)
Guangdong, which borders Hong Kong, is home to tens of thousands of Hong Kong- and Taiwan-invested factories due to years of attracting investors with low-cost and even free land.
"Just 6 percent of the urban land reserves remain undeveloped," Wen Chunyang, official from the Guangdong Urban and Rural Planning and Design Institute, was quoted by the China Daily as saying.
"(It) is insufficient to sustain healthy and consistent economic growth."
The province, with nearly 100 million people, has been a dynamo of China's economic growth since reforms started nearly 30 years ago. Last year, the province accounted for an eighth of the country's overall economic growth.
"With supply lagging far behind demand, some local governments have started exploiting farmland for urban construction projects," Wen said.
"In the long run, this will have a detrimental impact on the province."
China's cities have been the focus of official efforts to clean factory smoke and car exhaust from often smoggy skies. But as richer areas have set stricter controls, polluting factories have sprung up in the poorer countryside. (Reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Nick Macfie)
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