The nine cities in Pearl River Delta (PRD) in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) will supply sufficient industrial land and preferential land prices for enterprises and investors, Hu Jianbin, Director General of the Department of Natural Resources of Guangdong Province, announced at the 2022 Global Investment Promotion Conference for the GBA on December 21.

Hu introduced that the nine cities have planned a total industrial land protection area of about 2,844 km², accounting for 23.2% of the current construction land area.

In terms of coastal reclamation, the nine PRD cities have 69 high-quality land plots (patches), covering an area of about 20.6 km², and 361 uninhabited islands with an area of about 81.6 km² for development and construction. These places have abundant deep-sea resources that have yet to be developed, which can effectively support offshore wind power, marine ranching and other industries.

(Photo: Guangzhou Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Bureau)

Flexible land supply modes and preferential land price

To meet the needs of different companies, Guangdong government adopts a variety of flexible land supply modes, such as long-term lease, lease before transfer and flexible period of transfer, corresponding to different ways of land price payment.

For innovative enterprises, a "new industrial land" category is subdivided into the industrial land category. It integrates innovative functions such as R&D, design, pilot test, and related supporting facilities. The land price level is between ordinary industrial land and commercial office land.

(Photo: Guangzhou Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Bureau)

Simplified approval procedures and documents

According to Hu, the provincial construction land approval authority has been fully delegated to all PRD cities and major development platforms, such as Zhuhai Hengqin, Guangzhou Development Zone, and Guangzhou High-tech Zone. Guangzhou's Nansha district will undertake the provincial land approval authority soon.

"We have simplified and shortened the approval procedures, documents and other related matters as much as possible to reduce the time-cost for all enterprises," Hu said.

He added that for the projects with definite planning and construction conditions, after the land supply, the enterprise can directly apply for the issuing of construction permissions. This process can be completed within one working day.

(Photo: Guangzhou Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Bureau)

Flexible land use methods

The legal land circulation and land use division or combination are supported by local authorities. According to Hu's presentation, the land can be divided and combined use if it conforms to planning regulations and reaches the criteria of independent parcel division. The policy aims at further accurately allocating resources and releasing development dividends.