BEIJING, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- 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 land 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 policy has been tried.

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

    China recorded an economic growth of 10.9 percent in the first half this year on the back of a 30-percent growth in fixed asset investment, both of which registered recent-year highs.

    In a bid to prevent a possible economic meltdown, China has repeatedly raised the benchmark interest rate and clamped down on unauthorized investment projects.

    The government believes that checking the excessive growth of credit and land supply could be an effective way of cooling the economy.

    The State Council, or the cabinet, issued on Tuesday new macro-control policies aimed at tightening land supply.

    Highlights of the new policy include tougher punishment for local officials involved in illegal land transactions, more emphasis on safeguarding the interests of farmers losing their land, and a minimum price on industrial land.

    The new policy also deprives local governments of their freedom to spend the money from land sales, ordering that the revenue be incorporated into local budgets to allow supervision from higher authorities and local legislative bodies.

    "The solution to major issues in the economy lies in deepening reforms of the economic system, but for now approaching the problems on the land use front is the most direct and efficient way," Sun Wensheng, minister of Land and Resources told Xinhua. Enditem