The management committee of Zibo Economic Development Zone responded that: in response to the problems pointed out in the report, the management committee of Zibo Economic Development Zone set up a special work team consisting of the District Natural Resources and Planning Branch, the District Urban Investment Company, the District Government Affairs Coordination Department and Fujia Town, etc., to investigate and verify the land acquisition procedures and related compensation collection matters of Pengjia Village according to the process and division of responsibilities.

It was found in the inspection that due to the prominent historical contradictions in Pengjia Village and the incomplete team building, the above funds were entrusted by the District Urban Investment in a unified manner in order to ensure the safety of land compensation funds and take into account the value maintenance and appreciation of compensation funds. Pengjia Village can apply for use of funds at any time if it needs to use funds in terms of villagers' welfare, infrastructure construction, livelihood security and other daily expenses and reasonable major expenses. Therefore, the fund is not a substantial investment and financing, and there is no capital risk. At the same time, there is indeed a problem that the coverage of mass notification is not wide enough. In the next step, the local government will hold a villagers' congress and a party meeting to inform, explain and publicize, and at the same time, widely solicit villagers' opinions, and implement the rectification according to the opinions of most villagers.

The management committee of Zibo Economic Development Zone also said that it would require relevant departments to perform their own duties, quickly improve the procedures, ensure that the funds are managed in place according to law and regulations, and use them in strict accordance with the funds management procedures to ensure that the funds are fully used for village development and villagers' welfare. At the same time, we comprehensively investigated similar and related problems, put an end to the lack of village level fund escrow and use, and effectively ensure the vital interests of the people.

Previously reported:

Recently, a number of villagers in Pengjia Village, Fujia Town, Zibo Economic Development Zone, Shandong Province called the Voice of China on the front desk to report that the local government has used more than 30 million yuan of land acquisition compensation in the village for financial management without the knowledge of most of the villagers and the interest rate is 6%. The compensation for land acquisition is used for financing, but some villagers said they did not know. The land requisition compensation relates to the vital interests of land lost farmers. Relevant laws and regulations clearly stipulate that it is forbidden to occupy or misappropriate the land acquisition compensation fees and other related fees of the land acquisition unit.

On March 16, a public notice was posted on the public column of Pengjia Village Party Affairs in Fujia Town, Zibo Economic Development Zone. The core content was that 169.383 mu of collective land in the village was expropriated, involving 1297 farmers; The social pension security fund for the land requisitioned has been allocated to the special account of the Economic Development Zone, and the village committee will hold a villagers' congress to approve the proposed social security scheme.

The villager Cui Yongyong (not his real name) said that it was the first time that many villagers had heard about the content of the announcement. Villagers have more questions: When was the land expropriated? How much is the compensation for land acquisition? Why are they all taken to finance?

On April 15, Pengjia Village held a villagers' congress. According to the on-site video provided by the villagers to the reporter, Zhou Huaiqiang, the deputy mayor of Fujia Town, said at the meeting that two plots of land in the village had been expropriated, and the land requisition compensation had been used for collective financing.

According to the Shandong Provincial Land Acquisition Information Public Query System, in December 2022, the Shandong Provincial Government approved to convert about 20 mu of agricultural land in Pengjia Village into construction land and expropriate it; In September 2023, the Shandong Provincial Government approved to convert about 169 mu of agricultural land in Pengjia Village into construction land and requisition it. The land requisition compensation is used for financing.

On May 12, the Voice of China reporter visited Pengjia Village. About 20 mu of land has been expropriated, and a waste transfer project has been built on the site; The 169 mu plot is still overgrown with weeds. Two large cranes stand on the site. The construction site is in a shutdown state and surrounded by the "Suke Hi tech" investment billboard.

A villager said that since late March this year, villagers have asked about land acquisition, and only heard that land acquisition compensation was used for financing. I haven't seen any publicity in the village before, including the villagers' WeChat group, and I haven't seen any news.

According to the villagers, there are more than 1000 people in 6 villagers' groups in Pengjia Village. The villagers showed the reporter the Request for Comments jointly signed by six villagers' groups and printed by hand. The core content is that the compensation and resettlement plan for land acquisition needs to be decided by the villagers' assembly. The second group of villagers' representatives and some villagers said that they did not agree to use the land acquisition compensation for financing.

On May 13, the reporter accompanied several villagers of Pengjia Village to the Policy and Law Section of Zibo Natural Resources and Planning Bureau for consultation, and was told that there was no specific regulation on this in relevant laws and regulations. How to allocate and use the compensation for land acquisition was a matter of villagers' autonomy, which should be decided by the village's collective deliberative body.

What kind of financial products did you buy? A deputy mayor of Fujia Town told the villagers that the urban investment company of the Economic Development Zone had signed an agreement with the village. But Zibo Ecological Industry New Town Investment Development Group Co., Ltd., a city investment company in the Economic Development Zone, said that the financial management agreement was "signed by the village and the town". "The town has money in our place, but we can't tell which village has money. Other towns also have money in our place".

The Economic Development Zone Branch of Zibo Natural Resources and Planning Bureau also said, "Our department does not know. I asked the district finance just now, and the district finance did not know. It said that the money was from the town and the village.".

The villagers went through many departments to ask, but no answer was found. Zhou Huaiqiang, deputy mayor of Fujia Town, said frankly to the villagers that similar situations also exist in other villages' compensation for land acquisition.

The Land Administration Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates that it is prohibited to occupy or misappropriate the land acquisition compensation fees and other related fees of the land acquisition unit. The Measures for the Administration of Land Acquisition in Shandong Province also stipulates that land acquisition compensation and resettlement fees and social security fees should be earmarked for specific purposes, and no unit or individual may occupy or misappropriate them.

In March 2022, the Opinions of the General Office of the People's Government of Shandong Province on Regulating the Management of Land Expropriation made it clear that the management, use and distribution of land compensation fees and resettlement subsidies should be discussed and decided by the members of the village's collective economic organizations according to law. The rural collective economic organization shall disclose the income and expenditure of the land requisition compensation to the members of the collective economic organization in time and accept supervision.