The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and related departments are making breakthroughs in the reform of the investment approval system, NDRC said.

Problems in project approvals, such as excessive approval items, weak supervision and low efficiency, have been tackled through various measures, according to NDRC.

The commission has modified the catalogue of investment projects approved by the government for two consecutive years, and cut 76 percent of project approvals at the central government. Meanwhile, over 95 percent of foreign investment projects and 98 percent of overseas investment projects were recorded online under an innovative management system.

According to NDRC, the commission is working with related ministries and local governments to build an online approval and supervision platform for investment projects, and issued a file with 19 departments and ministries this year to require online processing and a unified coding system.

Meanwhile, new steps have been taken in regulating and standardizing approval procedures with a unified, transparent and efficient workflow in administrative service centers. The time for entrusted assessment and follow-up processing should not exceed 30 and 20 working days, respectively, according to a guideline issued by NDRC.

Other than environmental assessments for major projects, only site planning and selection and land-use pre-examination will be reserved as preconditions for project approvals. All other items will be streamlined and consolidated into 23 approval items, which could be completed before construction.

In the future, the commission will continue to modify the catalogue of investment projects approved by the government, accelerate reform of the approval of investments under the central budget, ensure proper decentralization to grassroots governments, enhance coordination among departments, and implement online recording, unified coding and information sharing.