On January 4, the Zaozhuang Municipal Land and Resources Bureau successfully transferred, by negotiated agreement, the operating-use rights for three parcels of state-owned construction land for underground space.

The parcels transferred this time are the operating-use rights for state-owned construction land on the third underground level, located on the south side of Junshan Road and the west side of Jiefang Road in Shizhong District. Each has an area of 34,129 square meters. The transfer prices are 11.7 million yuan for the first underground level, 5.9 million yuan for the second underground level, and 2.6 million yuan for the third underground level.

The reporter noted that as early as the beginning of 2014, Zaozhuang City held an on-site meeting on economical and intensive land use. At the meeting, it was mentioned that land-use space would be actively expanded and that the development and utilization of above-ground land, underground space, unused land, inefficiently used land, and idle land would be well managed. Work on digesting and utilizing approved-but-unsupplied land would be well carried out, with parcel-by-parcel screening, careful sorting, and study of land supply plans. For districts (cities) whose land supply rate fails to meet requirements, land-use quotas would be reduced. The role of the market in allocating land resources would be fully brought into play, flexible land supply methods would be adopted, enterprises would be encouraged to use state-owned construction land through leasing, and the term of industrial land use would be determined flexibly according to industrial cycles.

It is reported that as early as 2013, the General Office of the Zaozhuang Municipal Government issued the "Implementation Opinions on Further Promoting Economical and Intensive Land Use," which stipulated that the use of underground space should be encouraged. If a project requires the simultaneous use of underground space, the underground space and above-ground land-use rights may be transferred together or separately, with preferential treatment given in transfer prices. For operating projects using underground space, the space shall be acquired through paid use. The minimum transfer price shall be: for the first underground level, no less than 20% of the benchmark land price for the corresponding land use in the area; for the second underground level, half of the standard for the first underground level; for the third underground level, half of the standard for the second underground level; and so on.

This transfer set a precedent for Zaozhuang City in transferring state-owned construction land-use rights for underground space. It is an active exploration of seeking land from space, serves as a demonstration and driving example for the future development and utilization of underground space, and effectively promotes the economical and intensive use of land.