The Chinese government has decided to raise fees and taxes associated with land sales in the hope of curbing runaway investment.  

According to a new policy revealed by the Ministry of Land and Resources Thursday, compensation paid to people required to move to make way for new developments will be doubled.  

This will benefit tens of thousands of rural and urban Chinese families who lose their farm lands or homes to redevelopment each year.  

The land use fee for new construction projects shall also be doubled. The current charges vary from five yuan (0.63 U.S. dollars) to 70 yuan (8.78 dollars) per square meter.  

The government also intends to triple the taxes on urban land, which currently stand at 1.2 yuan (0.15 dollars) per square meter, the ministry said.  

The ministry estimates that the new policy may push the price of some industrial land up by 40 percent to 60 percent. This is acceptable according to experiences in cities where the new policyhas been tried. 

The ministry said higher land prices fees will check the excessive redevelopment of land by industrial projects and force local governments to improve the viability of the projects.
 
Editor: Yan