Lishui district in Nanjing, the capital of eastern China’s Jiangsu province, announced on March 24 a package of policies intended to support high-quality development in the manufacturing industry, including large amounts of financial support and Nanjing’s first-ever systematic policies pertaining to the development of entrepreneurs.

Zhang Yun, the mayor of the Lishui district discloses the policies. (Photo/People's Daily Online)

At the beginning of this month, the committee for deepening overall reform under the Communist Party of China (CPC) Nanjing Municipal Committee approved the general plan for a high-quality manufacturing development pilot zone in Lishui, which is the city’s only pilot zone targeting high-quality development of manufacturing industry.

Meanwhile, the committee specified 21 supportive measures to facilitate the construction and development of the pilot zone.

The 21 supportive measures cover institutional and mechanism innovation, better guarantee for essential production factors, and greater efforts in reform, Zhang Yun, the mayor of the Lishui district disclosed on March 24 at a conference regarding the promotion of construction related to a high-quality manufacturing development pilot zone in Lishui.  

A municipal-level coordination and promotion mechanism will be established to facilitate the efforts of Lishui to build national-level and provincial-level pilot zones. Moreover, they will make preparations for the establishment of a provincial-level manufacturing innovation center. Upon which they will carry out trials to promote interactive innovation with free trade zones. During this process, they will also hold major conventions and exhibitions, according to Zhang.

Land use for major provincial and municipal-level projects will be guaranteed through independent planning or other ways of targeted supplying, Zhang disclosed, adding that companies outside the urban development boundary are allowed to transform their existing factory buildings in accordance with the law.

Nanjing will encourage the establishment of sub-funds for district-level industries, ensure favorable quota of new bonds, and mobilize financial institutions to intensify support for relevant companies and projects, Zhang said.

The city will also make efforts to deepen reform of planned land utilization, including unification of approvals and certificates. It will also support Lishui in promoting reform of such fields as regional estimation, mechanisms to allow for and rectify errors, as well as a credit commitment system on a trial basis. Morover, the city is pushing forward initiatives related to data sharing and synergetic handling of relevant affairs, according to Zhang.

Besides municipal-level measures, Lishui district has also rolled out 10 policies supporting high-quality development of the manufacturing industry at the same time.

The district announced a financial incentive of up to 340 million yuan (about $48.1 million) for achievements of enterprises in such areas as introducing major projects, promoting interactive development of industries, green development, innovation, digital transformation, and expanding enterprise scale.

“Our policies show our creativity and sincerity in making efforts to think from the perspective of manufacturing enterprises and work together with them,” Zhang said.

Zhang disclosed that Lishui district will provide subsidies worth up to 100 million yuan for enterprises that introduce top experts and realize industrialization of research findings, financial rewards worth up to 30 million yuan for enterprises that build manufacturing innovation centers at or above provincial level, and financial incentives and subsidies worth up to 30 million yuan for new-type municipal-level and above R&D institutions newly settled in the district.           

The district government will also offer financial rewards worth up to 10 million yuan to foreign-invested enterprises established for introduction of major projects, large-scale centrally-administered state-owned enterprises, “gazelle companies,” Fortune Global 500 companies, “unicorn companies,”, companies making initiative public offerings (IPO) on either the domestic main board and/or science and technology innovation board, and companies making IPOs on major overseas stock markets.

To better meet the needs of entrepreneurs, Lishui district has also introduced a set of 10 systematic policies pertaining to the development of entrepreneurs, which is the first of its kind in the city. 

The policies include a positive list and a negative list for exchanges between officials and business people, encouraging government officials at various levels to support enterprises and give the greatest trust to entrepreneurs while ensuring earnest implementation of oversight conducted through the random selection of both inspectors and inspection targets and the prompt release of results.  

Honest and law-abiding enterprises shall be exempted from inspection and given certain tolerance to errors, according to the policies, which stipulate that these companies can be exempted from punishment when making initial errors but will be inspected strictly if they make mistakes again.

In addition, a series of incentive measures have also been adopted by the district to ensure sound guarantee for the livelihoods of entrepreneurs.

According to the district government, all the A-class entrepreneurs in the district can enjoy a free high standard physical examination once a year, and enjoy “green channel” for medical treatment. 

Also, children of A-class and B-class entrepreneurs can be given the priority in terms of their likelihood of getting to study in superior schools; all the “outstanding entrepreneurs” can enjoy value-added services of a “green-travel card” and be invited to take part in major events and activities including competitions as well as festival celebrations; and all the entrepreneurs of the district can enjoy considerate services from a dedicated local organization for entrepreneurs.