Approval via loophole
To get approval from the State Oceanic Administration, one must obtain the project from the National Development and Reform Committee (NDRC). The reclamation plan of Changxing Island, which is Dalian's only project under the NDRC, succeeded in getting approval from the State Oceanic Administration, but under the quota of Liaoning Province, not Dalian.
The land reclamation craze has extended to Jinzhou District, an area 50 kilometers from downtown Dalian. Along the seaside highway there are several reclamation projects from different developers – the first is the "East Bay of the Bohai Sea," followed by "Wanheng Heaven Bay" and, after the Jinzhou Bay Bridge, the "Shimao Royal Dagon Bay."
According to a salesman, the area was a desolate and quiet seaside village only about half a year ago. Now several model villa houses have been built, and the construction of other buildings is going on as expected. The salesman said it was only a start; in the second and even third phases there will be supermalls, theme parks, yacht clubs and a man-made dragon-shaped island with private villas and a seven-star hotel.
Such a comprehensive project must have obtained the approval of the State Oceanic Administration. However, Yu Qingsong, a director of the State Oceanic Administration, revealed that they had never approved such a project purely for real estate development. So how did the "Shimao Royal Dagon Project" get the rights to develop there?
An investigation revealed that although Dalian's five land reclamation projects belong to five different companies, the Shimao Group has 51% of the shareholdings in all five companies.
An insider explained that because it would not be easy for the same company to get so many projects, it was necessary to "break itself up into different parts" to obtain approval.
Serious ecological concerns
Economic interests are driving real estate developers to exploit loopholes in government procedure – Liaoning Province's six coastal cities plan to exploit 30 times more than the regulated figure of coastal land for reclamation in 2011, according to their plans.
However, excessive development will unavoidably bring an increasing amount of trash and automobile pollution to the natural and peaceful seaside areas. Unreasonable reclamation might also damage marine products, an expert warned, as well as affect flood control and shipping.
According to Zhang Luoping, a professor at Xiamen University, reclamation projects are undoubtedly harmful to nature, as they reduce wetlands and pollute the sea. He said that it was not worth destroying such valuable ecological space in order to obtain limited economic interests, whose consequences will be left to our descendants.
The local authorities should scrutinize the approval process for reclamation and strictly punish illegal projects.
