More efficiency, higher standards

As for shorter project approvals, these might have resulted from better efficiency in government offices, as people know that the sooner a project starts, the faster they will see results, according to local officials.

Zhang Yunchuan, the party secretary of China's northern Hebei Province, said earlier this year that the provincial government had previously set too many procedures for project approval.

To change this situation, in Shijiazhuang, Hebei's provincial capital, government departments agreed last month to jointly improve their work efficiency, especially with project approvals.

According to a joint announcement made by 61 departments, inspections for approvals of investment projects should be done within five working days. Previously, it might take months or even years for such projects to be approved.

The Shijiazhuang government had also vowed to strengthen environmental protection. Investors can now get official responses to the environmental impact statements for their projects within six working days. Reports of pollution cases would be dealt with immediately and inspectors would arrive on the scene within two hours, said the announcement.

Last year, just after the massive stimulus plan was announced, the ministry made it clear that environmental-impact assessments should be efficient but strict, and polluting projects should never be approved.

Supervision over non-environmentally friendly projects had also been strengthened as China had required financial institutions to be stricter when lending to industries that were energy-intensive or had excess capacity, according to an NDRC report last month.

Also according to the NDRC, China would raise the standards for energy-conservation projects, which could get tax breaks and other benefits.

The project capital fund for energy-intensive and high-emission projects was also required to account for a larger proportion of the all financing, in order to tighten lending for industries with high energy consumption and overcapacity, including the coke and steel industries, China's State Council (cabinet) announced late last month.

The adjustment would both boost investment and accelerate economic restructuring, cutting down on polluting industries, said Zhang Xinfa, analyst with Galaxy Securities.

(Xinhua News Agency May 23, 2009)