Beijing Impact

The dragon-shaped Pangu Plaza, which overlooks Olympic Green and is next to the iconic Bird's Nest Stadium, has been fined an undisclosed sum for its luxury rooftop courtyard houses after city authorities ruled it had made "illegal constructions".

The 192-m tall Pangu Plaza was designed by world renowned architect Li Zuyuan, who is responsible for the Taipei 101 tower.

Li built 12 courtyard houses on the roof of three buildings that covered a total area of 11,298 sq m.

The courtyard houses have been so sought-after that some Chinese tabloids even claimed billionaire Bill Gates rented one for 100 million yuan a year ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

"It is really gorgeous, as if I can touch the sky," Chen Le, a businessman, recalled after standing in a Pangu courtyard in 2008. "The decoration was quite luxurious, with a strong traditional Chinese flavor. When I was there, a tenant was hiring people to place precious orchids there."

But Beijing municipal commission of urban planning posted an announcement on its website recently saying the courtyards violated planning laws and noting that the building's investor, Pangu Investment Limited, would be fined.

"Our company received the notice in early 2009 and we have already paid the fine," Yang Rui, marketing manager at Pangu Investment Limited, told METRO yesterday.

"As long as we finish all the procedures and the Beijing authority has accepted our fine, the courtyard houses have the right to continue to exist," Yang added.

"They (the Beijing municipal commission of urban planning) did not ask us to destroy them, just pay a sum of money."

Yang would not reveal how much money changed hands but, according to Beijing's urban planning rules, "illegal constructions" can be fined up to 3,000 yuan per sq m.

"When we planned to construct these courtyards, we submitted documents on the design change to the commission at the same time. If the design change is not approved by the authority, it is a violation. But now, it is not," Yang said.

The 12 courtyard houses are only for rent, not for sale. Local media has reported they rent for as much as a million yuan a day, or 100 million yuan a year.

Yang said that price was not correct.

He said sales in the building have been brisk.

In addition to Pangu Plaza, 12 other Beijing property developers have been fined for making illegal constructions.

Chinese real estate tycoon Ren Zhiqiang is entitled to a pre-tax sum of 7.074 million yuan ($1.04 million) in yearly salary for 2009.

Ren, however, is said to have got about one tenth of it thus far, according to a statement posted on the website of Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The move is meant to shade the spotlight Ren has rekindled because of publicity of his fatty yearly salary after Huayuan Property Co, Ltd (Huayuan), with headquarters in Beijing, disclosed annual business reports Monday.

Huayuan, a state-owned real estate plc, said in the statement that its president Ren Zhiqiang's yearly salary of 2009 was composed of two parts: a 4.545-million-yuan bonus given for his performance in 2008 and an extra 2.529 million yuan allotted to him for a host of other reasons, including tenure and unspent vacation.

A real estate company has lost a 200 million yuan ($29.30 million) deposit and the right to buy a piece of land after failing to pay the amount bid at auction.

Beijing municipal bureau of land and resources yesterday announced they are cancelling Beijing Dalong Weiye Real Estate's qualification after they did not present the payment on time, the 21st Century Business Herald reported.

On November 20, 2009, Dalong Estate won the bid for a piece of land in Beijing's Shunyi district and rewrote the record on land purchases in 2009. The property developer agreed to pay 5.05 billion yuan for the plot.

China invested a whopping 3.6 trillion yuan ($527.30 million) in the property market last year, a 16 percent year-on-year jump from 2008, the nation's top statistician said at a news conference yesterday.

While property development investments rose 16.1 percent, sales and construction starts slowed, Ma Jiantang, head of the National Bureau of Statistics, said.

Property sales were up 43 percent year-on-year in December, a major decline from the 100 percent leap in sales seen in November, according to figures from the bureau.

December housing starts rose 34 percent year-on-year, down from a staggering 194 percent in November.

China's top number cruncher has been closely monitoring quickly rising prices.

"My worry is real estate prices have risen exceptionally fast in certain cities and regions," said Ma.