THE title deed for the Shenzhen Golf Club was revoked according to law Jan. 17, and the course will be taken over by Futian District Government, Shenzhen’s planning and land commission has announced. The Shenzhen Golf Club was established in Futian District in 1985, and its land lease expired Feb. 17, 2015. At the Fifth Session of the Sixth Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the CPPCC last month, Chen Zhimin, a member of the city’s political advisory body, put forward a proposal on recovering the land and turning it into a public space. Chen and other members have been raising proposals regarding the use of the land to the city government for several years. In a response last July, the city’s planning and land commission responded that the recovery of the land was in progress, but didn’t give a timetable for its completion. The commission said it will be converted into a public area and included in the upcoming plans for the Xiangmihu area. The owners of structures built on the land will be appropriately compensated. The golf club applied to extend its land use right Feb. 6, 2015, but the application was denied. The city has set up a liquidation group to take back the land. “The problem is the more than 70 villas built inside the golf club. They were not licensed to be sold on the market. If people are still living there and the business is going normally, then the rule is just a white piece of paper without any effect. That is what people care about,” said Chen in an interview with SZTV. Covering an area of 1.33 square kilometers, Shenzhen Golf Club sits in the district’s central area, to the south of Shennan Boulevard, and is an eight-minute drive from Huanggang Checkpoint. Another advisory body member, Chen Keshi, suggested the golf club be converted into a park marking Shenzhen’s reform and opening up. The park could be designed in coordination with the city’s Central Park. According to the plan of the land and resources commission, the Xiangmihu area will be built into an ecologically sustainable area featuring international quality and local characteristics and integrating an international exchange convention center, high-end finance, culture and creativity, business vitality and neighborhood facilities. The development of the golf course land will be included in the overall plan for the Xiangmihu area, but the details have yet to be revealed. (SD News) | 