Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Planning and Construction of Underground Space

(Adopted at the 10th Session of the Standing Committee of the 14th Shanghai Municipal Peoples Congress on December 27, 2013; amended in accordance with the Decision on Amending Some Local Regulations of This Municipality made at the 4th Session of the Standing Committee of the 15th Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress on May 24, 2018)

Chapter I  General Provisions

Article 1

These Regulations are formulated with a view to strengthening the planning and construction administration on the underground space development in this Municipality, protecting  the legitimate rights and interests of relevant obligees, promoting the rational utilization of underground space and meeting the needs of urban modernization and sustainable development, in accordance with such relevant laws and administrative regulations as the Law of the Peoples Republic of China on Urban and Rural Planning and the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Land Administration, and in the light of the actual circumstances of this Municipality.

Article 2

These Regulations apply to the planning, construction and relevant management activities within the administrative areas of this Municipality.

Article 3

The underground space mentioned in these Regulations refers to the space under the surface of the ground within the administrative areas of this Municipality.

Article 4

The development of underground space shall follow the principle of unified planning, comprehensive development, rational utilization, safety and environmental protection, preference of public interests, and integration between underground space and ground space.

Article 5

Municipal and district planning and land resources administrative departments shall undertake the coordinative duty and responsibility of underground space development, and be responsible for planning and land use administration.

Municipal and district administrative departments of construction shall be responsible for the supervisory administration on the construction activities of underspace development and the coordination of the construction and management of underground municipal infrastructure.

Municipal and district civil defence administrative departments shall be responsible for the supervisory administration on civil defence construction and the supervisory administration of underground space development with consideration to the needs of civil defence.

Municipal and district housing administrative departments shall be responsible for the ownership registration administration and transaction administration of underground construction and structures.

Other relevant administrative departments shall do well in the relevant supervisory work of underground space according to their respective functions and duties.

Article 6

Municipal and district administrative departments of planning and land resources, construction and housing, etc. shall carry out the investigation of underground space in accordance with their respective functions and duties according to law, and all relevant units and individuals concerned in investigation shall cooperate one another.

Article 7

Municipal and district administrative departments of planning and land resources, construction, civil defence and housing as well as other relevant administrative departments shall perform their supervisory duty on space development in accordance with their respective division of work.

Chapter II  Planning of Underground Space

Article 8

The underground space of this Municipality is divided into shallow stratum, mid stratum and deep stratum.

The underground space of this Municipality shall practise stratified utilization. The priority of underground space development shall be given to the arrangement of municipal infrastructure, civil defence projects, emergency disaster prevention facilities, with considerations of the needs of urban operation optimization.

Article 9

The municipal planning and land resources administrative department shall organize the formulation of this Municipalitys master plan for underground space, which shall be taken as the specific plan to be brought into the urban master plan and be made known to the public.

The contents of the master plan for underground space shall include: the developmental strategy for underground space, the general layout, the scope of main construction, the vertical stratified layout, suitable construction projects at different levels, the priority process for construction projects at the same stratum exploitation steps, development objectives and safeguard mechanisms.

The central city zoning plan, the master plan of suburban districts, the master plans of new cities and new towns shall include the underground space planning, which shall be in conformity with its master plan of underground space.

Article 10

The requirements of interconnection between underground transportation facilities and between the underground transportation facilities and adjacent underground public activity places shall be made clear when formulating the detailed regulatory plan for arranging underground space.

The detailed regulatory plan of the major areas defined by the Municipal Peoples Government shall make specific regulations for the underground space development scope, development depth, the architectural capacity control requirements, the usability nature, the location of entrance and exit and the interconnecting mode etc. The detailed regulatory plan of other places shall take the requirements of underground space of major areas as reference to make specific regulations.

Article 11

The formulation of all specific plans related to the arrangement of underground space shall be organized by relevant municipal special administrative departments jointly with the municipal planning and land resources administrative department, and shall be brought into corresponding urban and rural planning upon authorization.

The municipal civil defence administrative department shall formulate the engineering construction planning for civil defence, and make regulations for the layout of the single construction of civil defence as well as the development of underground space with consideration to the needs of civil defence in major areas and the related technical support measures.

Article 12

The planning and land resources administrative department shall, jointly with the administrative department of construction, formulate the overall planning of underground pipelines in accordance with the detailed regulatory plan and relevant specific plans and in combination with the construction of urban streets and highways.

Formulating the overall planning of underground pipelines shall solicit the opinions of pipeline construction units and relevant administrative departments.

Article 13

The detailed regulatory plan and relevant specific plans shall reserve positions for underground pipelines at relevant underground space. The new overhead lines and their lever brackets shall not be built in the areas reserved for underground pipelines.

New cities and economic development zones set up in this Municipality upon the approval of the State Council and the Municipal Peoples Government shall formulate an integrative pipe trench plan. Areas that have formulated integrative pipe trench plans shall centralize the laying of telecommunication cables, electric power cables and water-pipes. The relevant pipeline plan shall be properly connected to the integrative pipe trench plan.

Relevant plans shall no longer arrange the positions for those pipelines that have been determined to be brought into integrative pipe trenches.

Chapter III  Construction of Underground Space

Article 14

The construction of underground space shall observe the procedures provided for by the State and this Municipality. The relevant administrative examination and approval for completion of tie-in construction for underground works shall be handled along with all construction at the ground level.

Completion of tie-in underground construction shall follow the sequence of underground level first and ground level second.

Article 15

The construction of underground space shall not endanger the safety of adjacent buildings, structures and attachments at both ground and underground levels.

Where the construction of underground space shall utilize the adjacent construction land for passageways, ventilation, electrifying and drainage, etc., the person who has the rights to use the adjacent land for construction shall provide convenient conditions. The passageways, ventilation, electrifying and drainage of construction units shall be in conformity with the requirements of relevant laws, rules, regulations, standards and norms, and shall avoid damage to the person who has the rights to use the adjacent land for construction. The compensations have to be made in case of such damage.

Article 16

Building such municipal infrastructure as metro, tunnels, integrative pipe trenches and underpasses as well as single underground project shall be in conformity with the construction standards of relevant underground construction works of the State with consideration to the civil defence requirements.

For new civil buildings, construction units shall complete the tie-in construction with basements structure for civil defence in accordance with the relevant regulations of the State.

Article 17

Underground construction works brought into the scope of the Catalogue of Transferred Land Use made by the State may adopt the mode of transfer to obtain the use rights of the construction land while the other underground works shall obtain the said use rights by such compensated mode as transfer or lease.

Combined underground works in construction projects shall obtain the land use rights along with its ground-level parts.

Article 18

The person that has the rights to use land for construction at the ground level may apply for the development of underground space within range of the land for construction use, except for the underground space to be utilized by such public-welfare construction projects as municipal infrastructure and civil defence.

The person that has the rights to use land for the construction at the ground level and for the development of underground space within the range of construction-use land shall observe the requirements of the detailed regulatory plan.

Article 19

The modes of bidding, auction and listing shall be adopted in land use right transfer for underground construction projects, but those in conformity with one of the following circumstances may adopt the mode of agreements for granting:

1. those operational underground works of public-welfare nature attached to underground traffic facilities without stand-alone development conditions;

2. the single operational underground works constructed by the person with the use rights for  land construction at the ground level within the range of the construction land ; and

3. other circumstances provided for by the State and this Municipality in conformity with the transfer conditions by agreements.

Article 20

The Municipal Peoples Government shall formulate specific procedures on levying the transferring fees of construction land use right for underground works and make them known to the public for inspection according to law.

Article 21

The planning and land resources administrative department shall check and ratify the planning conditions of underground works in accordance with the detailed regulatory plan. If the detailed regulatory plan has no clarified the planning requirements for underground space, it shall check and ratify the planning conditions in accordance with the technical regulations of planning management.

For those underground works in major areas defined by the Municipal Peoples Government and the construction land use right provided for by the mode of allocation, the planning and land resources administrative department shall check and ratify the planning conditions of underground works when examining and releasing the site selection proposal; for the construction land use right  provided by the mode of granting, the planning and land resources administrative department shall check and ratify the planning conditions for underground works before concluding and signing the granting contract of the construction land use right. The planning and design requirements for the nature of the construction land projects, the maximum area-coverage scope, the development depth, the architectural capacity control requirements as well as the requirements for interconnection to the adjacent buildings shall be clarified.

For other underground projects, the planning and land resources administrative department shall clarify the construction contents of underground space before the examination and approval on the design options of construction projects.

The development scope of underground space for tie-in construction projects shall not exceed the land use boundary line of the construction land at the ground level.

Article 22

Those design options involving construction projects of underground space in centralized development zones shall be comprehensively balanced by the administrative agencies in development zones before submitting it to the planning and land resources administrative department for examination and approval. Where a design option of construction project fails to be balanced, the planning and land resources administrative department shall not accept and hear the application of relevant construction projects permit.

Administrative agencies in centralized development zones may conduct integrated design and unified construction for underground space; the built-up underground space may be allocated or granted in a separate way, or may be allocated or granted along with its construction land use right at the ground level.

Article 23

Where interconnecting is required for underground works, its design option shall define the plan of interconnection to adjacent buildings. Where a lateral interconnection position is reserved in an adjacent building, the lateral interconnection of new project shall therewith be connected up properly. The construction unit of new project shall be responsible for the construction of the underground interconnection passage, and may obtain construction land use right.

Where the interconnecting requirements of underground works have not been made clear in planning conditions, the construction unit may reach an agreement with the owner of the adjacent building with regard to the contents of the interconnecting position, the height mark of connecting passage, the main body of construction implementation and the construction land use right to form an interconnecting scheme, which shall be brought into the design option of construction project and be submitted for verification the same time.

Where the underground passage of connecting section is scheduled to pass through urban streets and highways, the planning and land resources administrative department shall solicit the opinions of the administrative department of construction, and define the obligations of the construction unit in building the underground passage and the usage mode as well as the duty of repair and maintenance after the completion of underground passage  in the land-allocating decision paper or in the land-granting contract.

Article 24

The building of underground works shall be in conformity with the safety and quality standards of engineering construction, satisfy the needs in flood prevention, drainage, fire control, earthquake proof, avoidance of natural geological calamities, control of shaking effects and noise pollution as well as the requirements of facility operation and maintenance, and match the functions of use and passageway designs to ground-level buildings in harmony.

The space between underground works shall meet with the requirements for the security protection of adjacent underground facilities.

The detailed regulatory plan shall define the scope of security protection area for large-scale underground municipal infrastructure of tunnels, metro and integrative pipe trenches, etc., in accordance with the specific plan or industry standards. Where the construction of underground works needs to be conducted within the security protection area, the examination and approval for the project feasibility report and the design option of construction projects shall solicit the opinions of relevant professional administrative departments; the construction unit shall report the matter to the relevant professional administrative department for the approval of construction protection scheme, and entrust a qualified supervising unit to conduct supervision and detection  on the safety of municipal infrastructure, apply corresponding safety measures .

Article 25

The construction unit shall conduct the construction of underground space in accordance with planning permits, without arbitrarily altering the spheres within the planning permits; if any alternation firmly needs to be made, an application shall be filed to the planning and land resources administrative department. The planning and land resources administrative department shall make verifications jointly with relevant departments after acceptance and hearing. In case the contents of alternation are not in conformity with the planning requirements, they shall not be approved by the planning and land resources administrative department.

Article 26

In the construction of underground pipelines, a construction unit shall entrust a survey and mapping unit with corresponding qualification to carry out the follow-up survey for underground pipelines. The construction unit shall submit the follow-up survey contract of underground pipelines when applying to the planning and land resources administrative department for a construction project planning permit.

Before the earth- covering of the underground pipelines, the construction unit shall notify the survey and mapping unit to conduct follow-up survey in line with the follow-up survey of contract of underground pipelines.

Article 27

Before the completion check and acceptance for underground works planning, a construction unit shall apply to the urban construction archive administrative agency for making special check and acceptance for archives of underground works in advance.

A construction unit shall submit the paper documentation as well as electronic data of the final drawing and finished measuring report, etc. to the planning and land resources administrative department when applying for the completion check and acceptance for underground works planning. In case the unit has not submitted the final acceptance data as required, the planning and land resources administrative department shall not accept and hear its application for final acceptance.

A construction unit shall be responsible for the accuracy of the data submitted, and assume  its liability according to law in case that the facilities of underground pipelines are damaged and cause losses to others in the construction owing to the inaccuracy of data.

The planning and land resources administrative department shall in a timely manner send the relevant electronic data submitted by the construction unit to the administrative departments of construction, civil defence and housing.

The municipal administrative departments of planning and land resources, construction, civil defence and housing, etc. shall perfect the space information system in accordance with their respective functional operating requirements, realize information-sharing for different systems, and practise open information according to law.

Article 28

The tie-in underground works in construction projects shall handle the construction land use rights along with the ground-level part as well as the initial registration for the ownership of the house. For a single underground construction project, the construction land use right of underground space as well as the initial registration of the house ownership shall be independently handled.

The ownership scope of land for underground construction use shall be determined in accordance with the use rights boundary of the construction land for underground space stated clearly in the land examination and approval document. The ownership scope of the underground construction and structures built-up in accordance with planning permits upon the check and acceptance of planning shall be determined within range of the periphery of the underground construction and structures.

The person of real estate ownership for underground space shall, before handling the real estate registration, entrust an appropriate body to carry out the cadastre investigation of underground space and the investigation of the ownership of the house.

Article 29

The registration of construction land use rights of underground space and the real estate registration of underground construction and structures shall be implemented in accordance with the relevant regulations for the real estate registration of the State and this Municipality.

Chapter IV  Legal Liability

Article 30

Where the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Urban and Rural Planning and other laws and administrative regulations have provided for punishment for violation of the provision of the present Regulations, such provisions shall apply.

Article 31

Any construction unit fails to reserve the lateral communication position in accordance with the planning in violation of the provision of Clause 1 of Article 23 of these Regulations, or fails to make a connection at the lateral communication position as required shall be ordered to make a correction by the planning and land resources administrative department, and a penalty of not less than 5% but not more than 10% of the construction costs shall be imposed.

Article 32

Any construction unit fails to notify the survey and mapping unit to conduct a follow-up survey on underground pipeline projects in violation of the provision of Clause 2 of Article 26 of these Regulations shall be ordered to make a correction within a prescribed time limit by the planning and land resources administrative department; if it fails to make a correction within the prescribed time limit, a penalty of not less than twice but not more than three times of the complementary survey expenses shall be imposed.

Article 33

Any administrative department of planning and land resources, construction, civil defence and housing, etc. that has one of the following acts shall be ordered to make a correction within a prescribed time limit or to make a public reprimand by the peoples government at the same level, the superior administrative department or the supervision organ according to their respective functions and duties; a punishment shall be given to the directly competent responsible person or other persons in direct charge according to law:

1. it fails to work out the relevant required planning in violation of the provisions of Article 9, Article 10, Article 11, Article 12, Article 13 and Clause 3 of Article 24 of these Regulations.

2. it fails to check and ratify the required planning conditions in violation of the provision of Article 21 of these Regulations;

3. it fails to work out the planning of civil defence engineering construction in violation of the provision of Clause 2 of Article 11 of these Regulations.

4. it fails to make the required registration for the real estate rights of underground space in violation of the provisions of Article 28 and Article 29 of these Regulations; and

5. it fails to exercise control and check-up over the underground space development in accordance with their respective functions and duties in violation of the provision of Article 7 of these Regulations.

Any working personnel in the administrative departments of planning and land resources, construction, civil defence and housing, etc. who is derelict of duties, plays favoritism and engages in malpractice for personal gains shall be prosecuted for criminal liability according to law if a crime is constituted.

Chapter V  Supplementary Provisions

Article 34

“The tie-in construction” mentioned in these Regulations refers to those construction activities that the same subject develops the underground space along with the ground-level building.

“The single construction” mentioned in these Regulations refers to those construction activities of stand-alone development of underground space.

Article 35

These Regulations shall be effective as of April 1, 2014.