CHINA reported a year-on-year rise of 4.1 percent in cases of illegal land seizure that occurred in the first nine months of this year, the Ministry of Land and Resources said yesterday.

The ministry uncovered 37,000 cases of illegal land use involving 16,400 hectares of land in the first three quarters, up 10.8 percent year on year, the ministry said in a statement on its website. The amount included 6,000 hectares of arable land, up 6.7 percent, it said.

The area of misused land in the less-developed central and western regions of the country accounted for 81.1 percent of the total amount, said Wang Ling, an official of the ministry's inspection department. She said local governments have funded some of the projects that were constructed using illegally seized land.