In response to the provincial government’s call to enable applicants to complete all paperwork on just one visit and introduce a unit-area-based system for assessing corporate performance, the Zhangzhou Municipal Government has recently rolled out the policy of transferring industrial land in the form of “standardized plots”. This is part of a sweeping effort by the local government to improve the quality and efficiency of its review process for industrial projects. By doing so, the government hopes to enable enterprises to start construction as soon as they get the land.

A standardized plot is defined as a piece of project land that meets the following requirements: 1) it meets the government’s requirements on spatial planning and market entry standards; 2) it has undergone an area assessment, and a system of targets, including planning conditions, construction requirements, and project benefits, have all been well defined; 3) essentials such as roads, and water and power supply are fully available in its proximity, with the plot itself having been cleaned for transfer; and 4) permits are readily obtainable for land use planning, project planning, and construction, etc.

In accordance with the new initiative, the local government (management committee) of the district where the standardized plot is located must make for the plot-specific targets relating to its investment intensity, floor area ratio, average tax revenue per mu, etc. These targets are what natural resource authorities across Zhangzhou must refer to when formulating their land use right transfer document for state-owned land designated for construction purposes. In both this document and the public notice of the land transfer, it must be made clear that the successful bidder and the relevant local government (management committee) must sign a contractor industry supervision agreement for the land transfer to follow.