Shenzhen Strives to Build Standardized Land MarketShenzhen, a boom town facing Hong Kong across the local river, has enacted a local legal regulation to allow free transfer of the land use rights at the designated market.The "regulation on management of the land trading market of Shenzhen City" is considered to be China's first local legislation regarding re-sale of land use rights at the tangible market. In China, land is owned by the State. Project developers may pay money to buy the land use rights, which are strictly controlled by local governments, but were previously not allowed to re-sell if they did not want to continue the project development. So in most cases, the land was left idle, to be eventually be auctioned off. With the regulation, the supply of every inch of land used for profitable businesses in Shenzhen should be brought into the tangible land market -- land and property trading center of Shenzhen City, and the traditional concept of "resorting to the city mayor when you want a piece of land to start up a business" will be transformed into the modern habit of "turning to the market when you need a stretch of land," said a local official. The 34-article regulation lists down detailed legal-binding requirements about establishment, functions and responsibilities of the land trading market, the ways and rules of land trading, inspections, and punishments in cases of violation. The official added that the regulation would be of great importance for expanding reform in land administration and for standardizing the development of the land trading market. Shenzhen, which falls under the jurisdiction of south China's Guangdong Province, is also one of the country's five special economic zones that were designed to pilot many reform measures. |
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