The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said on Wednesday it will use remote satellite sensing to monitor illegal constructions in cities nationwide this year, which is more accurate and efficient than relying on inspections by the local authorities.

So far, the project, the first of its kind in China, has been monitoring 297 cities at the prefecture level and above. The ministry receives the monitoring results on a monthly basis.

In the past months, the ministry has handled eight severe cases of illegal construction, in which riverbeds, places of historic interest and ecological reserves have been illegally used for brick-and-mortar projects, in Gansu, Shaanxi, and Anhui provinces, among others.

The ministry has ordered the provincial authorities to take immediate actions to stop constructions that infringe upon public space, public interests and areas of ecological importance, or have serious potential safety risks, and to hold those responsible accountable.

The ministry will also start an evaluation of the implementation of urban comprehensive planning in 108 major cities, especially local authorities' performance in dealing with illegal constructions.

Officials that fail to monitor or deal with the problem will be held accountable as well.

The ministry has also clarified that illegal constructions will now be dealt with in accordance with the Criminal Law, rather than the law on urban planning.