If the business environment is the soft power of the regional economy, optimizing the business environment is an important measure to improve the core competitiveness of the regional economy. A few days ago, Shanghai released the optimization of business environment (version 6.0), and Hongkou is also accelerating the implementation of relevant policies.

Since 2018, Hongkou has set up a joint meeting and special working team on the business environment in Hongkou, focusing on the government affairs, legal environment, enterprise-oriented services and projects’ promotion in major reform areas, updating and optimizing the business environment policy annually, steadily implementing reform measures, and actively exploring characteristic practices.

Online Enterprise Registration

A duck knows first when the river becomes warm in spring. Enterprises clearly know whether the business environment is good or not.

Li Ziqiang, Chairman of Jiaoxiangyue Investment Management Company, said: "The government's efforts to simplify administration and delegate power, combine decentralization and management, and optimize services, and to create a business environment have achieved good results". The main business of the company is investment and business incubation. The company often acts as an agent for incubated enterprises’ registration, equity change, registration cancellation and others. In recent years, the most profound change felt by Li Ziqiang was the way of enterprise registration. It took a week for an enterprise to handle and get the result. Now, an enterprise can register and get the result by express delivery. He said, "In this way, the simplified process offers convenience for enterprises, and the efficiency is greatly improved". The online enterprise registration has truly been realized.

It is reported that since 2018, Hongkou has continuously strengthened the reform of simplifying administration and delegating power, combining decentralization and management, and optimizing services, and has taken the lead in launching innovative measures such as the collegial approval system, one certificate having multiple addresses and one license having multiple addresses in Shanghai. Hongkou has been recognized by the State Council as an area with obvious results in deepening the reform of the commercial system and implementing the in-process and aftermath supervision. Hongkou has actively exerted the normal and long-term effect of the enterprise-oriented service mechanism of one thousand people visiting ten thousand enterprises, comprehensively implements the office building head system and the garden head system, and strives to be the best partner and the warmest servant. By the end of 2022, there had been 37 office and business buildings with the tax revenue of 100 million yuan and 14 industry parks with the tax revenue of 100 million yuan.

The Speed of the North Bund is Soaring

In the past five years, Hongkou has firmly grasped the important historical opportunity of the development and construction of the North Bund, adhered to the highest standards and the best level worldwide, and created an international first-class business environment with Hongkou characteristics. In this regard, Wang Qiang, Vice General Manager of Shanghai Senxin Construction Engineering Co., Ltd., said: “The speed of the North Bund has made enterprises run”.

With the approval of the Detailed Plan for Controllability of the North Bund Region in 2020, the North Bund region is in a comprehensive beginning stage of development, with the land bidding and auction and the project construction in full swing. Senxin Construction, which has worked in Hongkou for many years, is participating in the construction of many projects in the North Bund area, such as Zhongyin Plaza, the reconstruction and expansion of Shanghai Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital, and the new construction of Chengzhong Middle School. He said that thanks to the "full authorization" of Hongkou, Senxin Construction ran at the speed of the North Bund. Especially after the implementation of reform and convenience measures such as "acceptance at one counter", "phased certificate issuance" and "comprehensive acceptance upon completion of construction" for administrative approval items such as planning, construction permit and acceptance upon completion, all units participating in the construction have been benefited, and the construction period has been shortened by an average of 4 to 6 months at one stroke.

In order to further speed up the development and construction of the North Bund, Hongkou has successively launched the North Bund Enterprise Service Center and the North Bund Service Counter, and offered the special seal of the Hongkou District Government for the development and construction of the North Bund and the overseas returnee talents service station to bring the development of the North Bund to the fast lane. The development and construction of the North Bund area is more efficient and faster.

The Special Funds for Enterprises

From the version 1.0 to the version 5.0 of the optimized business environment, the entrepreneurs in Hongkou clearly felt that there are fewer business processes, more government door-to-door services, and better market environment. These are the result of Hongkou's adherence to the optimization of the business environment as a starting point to promote the high-quality development of the regional economy.

Especially in recent years, Hongkou has implemented relevant policies to help enterprises go out of difficulties and revitalize the economy, effectively stimulated the vitality of market players, boosted social confidence, promoted the stable economic growth, and brought more benefits and convenience to enterprises.

For example, the special support fund policy launched by Hongkou gives priority to supporting the application from small and medium-sized enterprises and accelerates the approval process of fund allocation. At present, a total of 3.41 billion yuan has been allocated to support various types of over 2,100 enterprises. The tax rebates, reductions, exemptions and deferrals of 2.674 billion yuan in total were completed. The accumulated rent reduction of state-owned enterprises in Hongkou was nearly 150 million yuan, benefiting 2,161 enterprises. The 24 entrepreneurship incubation bases in Hongkou were actively encouraged to provide rent reduction and other service measures for enterprises settling in them, and the total amount of f rent reduction has reached more than 4.5 million yuan.

At the same time, Hongkou actively uses its financial industry advantages to vigorously support the development of the real economy. Last year, the Hongkou government added 100 million yuan of special financial funds, cooperated with 18 banks, including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, Bank of Communications, and innovatively launched the discount interest and guarantee subsidy on the Xinyi Loan Platform, the Platform for Science and Technology Development Loan, the Loan Platform for Enterprises in Hongkou, with a credit line of 16.4 billion yuan. By the end of 2022, the financing needs of nearly 4 billion yuan had been met for 625 small and medium-sized enterprises.

The special funds have helped small and medium-sized enterprises to solve difficulties timely, and laid a solid foundation for the economic upgrading.