SHENZHEN’S planning and natural resources bureau recently issued a new regulation on the reconstruction of dismantled buildings, which exempts the range requirement for the transformation of industrial land to affordable housing.

The previous regulation specifies that old factory buildings within 500 meters of Metro stations can be turned into affordable housing.

After the release of the new regulation, some interpreted this as a signal that the city plans to permit a wide range of land currently zoned for industrial use to be transformed into affordable housing.

However, staff with the city’s urban upgrading and land management bureau told the reporter with the Southern Metropolis Daily that this is a one-sided interpretation.

According to them, the exemption is only applicable to industrial land that has not been included in an industrial area.

Xu Shengrong, a staffer with the urban upgrading and land management bureau, explained that the new regulation was formulated in part out of consideration of the fact that Shenzhen proposed last year to provide 1 million affordable housing units by the end of 2035.

Additionally, the new regulation stipulates an expiry date for reconstruction programs to ensure efficiency. Under normal conditions, the program would be valid for two years, when it will automatically expire unless the projects qualify for a one-year extension.

(Wang Jingli)