The People's Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party of China, published an article in its overseas edition of Oct 31 highlighting red tape-cutting efforts by the Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone in Fujian province.

In a bid to simplify complicated and extensive processes for administrative approval of a project, the local Party Working Committee in Pingtan recently set up a special office responsible for project assessment and approval.

The office is named “Mashang Office”, meaning “doing things the right away”. The name is inspired by a speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who was then the Party Secretary of Fuzhou city in the 1990s.

During an inspection of Fuzhou’s Mawei economic development district, Xi urged local authorities to improve work efficiency and handle affairs correctly the first time.

The establishment of the office is a vital step in the reform of Pingtan’s administrative examination and approval, as it will reduce the approval time of a project from 256 days to 100 days, said the newspaper.

Also, a project investor used to have to run many errands to collect 99 affixed seals from various authorities to get the green light. But with the revolutionary establishment of the office, it now only needs one final stamp.

For foreign investors, the office will provide a special agent who will help them go through all approval procedures.