Illegal villa complex "grows" out of industrial park

　　Linjiang Industrial Park, on the banks of the Dongjiang River, is the main battlefield for developing new-type industry in Zijin County, a provincial-level impoverished county in Guangdong: it has actually requisitioned 5 square kilometers of land, introduced more than 80 projects, and attracted total investment of about 18 billion yuan.

　　However, in this industrial park where land is in short supply, a luxury villa community covering 2.5 square kilometers suddenly "grew" in recent years, mixed together with the dozens of electronics, hardware and plastics enterprises already settled in the park, looking abrupt and eye-catching.

　　This villa development, called "China South City · Shili Dong'an," occupies a prime location on the banks of the Dongjiang River and is one of the top luxury developments in Zijin County and even the entire Heyuan City, carefully built with a 6 billion yuan investment by China South City Holdings Limited. Viewed from afar from the Linjiang Bridge, the luxurious villa complex lines up along the river, quite spectacular. The supporting facilities of the villa community are also "grand": they include a helipad, equestrian club, golf driving range and yacht club, among other lavish projects.

　　One of the biggest highlights of this development is at least 200 luxurious detached villas. In the magnificent sales center, sales staff said, our detached villas are divided into large and small types. Each large detached villa has a floor area of about 1,050 square meters and sells for about 20 million yuan; of the 12, two have been sold. The small detached villas sell best, with each having a floor area of 146 to 476 square meters and selling for about 5 million yuan.

　　It is understood that after 2003 the state banned "land supply for villas," and detached villas are illegal and cannot pass government planning approval.

　　Sales staff said: "Being able to obtain villa land that others cannot get approved, and build detached villas, proves our strength."

　　"Xinhua Viewpoint" reporters also found that the yacht dock already built for this development is suspected of encroaching on the Dongjiang River channel and is an illegal structure.

　　The "logistics aircraft carrier" that "banners a sheep but sells dog meat"

　　The "true identity" of this villa community is a commercial and logistics city project called a "logistics aircraft carrier," officially named the "Dongjiang Commercial Comprehensive Logistics and Supporting Commercial Residential Project."

　　According to the plan, the project has a total investment of about 10 billion yuan and is intended to be built into an ultra-large comprehensive commercial and logistics platform integrating an industrial raw materials market, building materials, logistics distribution and financial settlement, oriented toward the Pan-Pearl River Delta region and connecting Guangdong, Jiangxi and central China.

　　The beautiful plan was exciting. In 2009, the project was listed as a provincial-level key project; relevant provincial leaders gave it high affirmation and visited the site to give guidance, and Heyuan city leaders regarded it with even greater favor.

　　Zijin County spared no effort in supporting the project. To ensure the project got off the ground, it even illegally requisitioned land: before the provincial Department of Land and Resources approved it twice in 2008 and 2010, land requisition had already "advanced" in early 2006; the approval covered only 1,700 mu, but 3,900 mu were requisitioned. The evil consequences of the illegal land requisition that year remain to this day: several hundred mu of production and development land that must be compensated under national policy have still not been delivered, causing some villagers to petition continuously.