Agile in the rough

Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday that Agile Property is one of five mainland firms that have illegally acquired sites to develop golf courses. The company bought a 52.8 hectare site in Tengchong, in Yunnan province, to build an ecopark but part of it was later turned into a golf course by Agile, according to the Ministry of Land and Resources. Agile Property allegedly committed similar violations in 2012, when it started building golf courses at its projects in Hainan and in Huizhou, Guangdong, without permission. Li Jianqin, director of the enforcement supervision department of the Ministry, has already criticized developers who have built illegal golf courses as a selling point for their high-end residential projects, Xinhua reported. The report stated that many developers and even provincial governments had used ‘the cover’ of launching an ecopark, entertainment or tourist resort to build a golf course, after Beijing banned new golf course construction in 2004.