SHANGHAI - Government officials of Yangzhou in East China's Jiangsu province said on Monday they will suspend the sale of a 60-hectare plot of land that had been traded without informing local residents living in the area.

Residents in?the Dujiang Xiyuan development said they were not informed of the plan to sell their land. [CCTV]?

The decision came after the residents had cast growing doubts about the secret sale of the land by the city government in early February.

The government had also been widely criticized for its violation of the private ownership of 70 households in Dujiang Xiyuan development, which were built only eight years ago.

Wang Jun, spokesman of the local government, said on Monday the government has decided to suspend the sale out of respect for the will of the people.

"It is still crucial to regenerate the area in order to improve local residents' poor living environment and protect the mother river of Yangzhou," he said at a press conference.

China Central Television (CCTV) has reported that residents in the Dujiang Xiyuan development were told in early March that their newly purchased apartments were to be torn down to make way for a new residential project.

They were told the land they inhabited had already been sold to a real estate company at a price of 37.5 million yuan ($5.49 million) per hectare on Feb 11. An announcement posted on the land-trading website of Jiangsu province also testified to the transaction.

In contrast, residents in the development said they had never been informed of the sale and the government had not made any negotiations with homeowners regarding compensation.

The peaceful life of Xiong Ximei, a resident in the development, was broken by a group of strangers in early March when they came to her house to measure its dimensions.

Xiong was shocked to learn from the strangers that the buildings in the residential area were to be demolished.

Residents in the adjacent Fuyunyuan development were also informed their buildings were to be torn down. The two developments were completed in 2002 and 2003.

Liu Jiapeng, a local resident, showed his land-use permit to a CCTV reporter that clearly states his land-use right expires in 2071 and said, "How can the government sell the land that belongs to us without notice?"

"We issued a notice at the end of last year," said Bian Guangji, head of land-use department at the city's land and resources bureau.

The notice was published on Jiangsu's land-trading website and the website of the Land and Resources Bureau of Yangzhou, though ordinary people rarely visit these sites.

"It's impossible to inform the residents one by one," Bian said. "The online notice serves as a public announcement."

But according to the Measures for the Administration of Land Reserves issued by the Ministry of Land and Resources, the Ministry of Finance and the People's Bank of China in 2007, the land-use department should obtain approval from the city government and compensate the land-use holders before reclaiming.

The residents claim they have received no compensation so far, nor had they been informed of any plan.

"The government wants to seek more social profit," said Bian. "In fact, this practice has affected not only us. It's a common practice for local governments."

The CCTV report said the development is on the south bank of the city's ancient canal site, which has considerable commercial potential. The government had reportedly gained more than 2 billion yuan by selling the land.

However, area residents criticized the move as a huge waste.

"The government is irresponsible to pull down the newly-built buildings only to erect structures of the same type again," said Dai Bangcheng, a resident in Dujiang Xiyuan development.