Beijing - A senior land administrator has pledged tough measures to curb the illegal use of land, especially for the construction of real estate, luxury villas and golf courses.

Li Jianqin, director of the law enforcement and supervision department of the Ministry of Land and Resources, said on Thursday that there were a total of 53,000 cases of illegal land use across the country in 2010, which gives an indication of the scale of the challenge posed by seeking to protect this scarce resource.

The cases involved 27,866 hectares of land, an increase of 1.1 percent on 2009, Li said at a press conference.