A number of ministry-level departments, including those responsible for flood control and drought relief, housing and urban-rural development, and human resources and social security, have responded recently to issues of public concern.
Patrols of dikes and sluices stepped up amid floods
China will strengthen the patrolling of dikes and sluices around the Yangtze River, Huaihe River and Taihu Lake to ensure safety during flood prevention work.
The Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters called for the creation of detailed patrol plans that include round-the-clock patrols of the main dikes and sluices on rivers and lakes.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Emergency Management said it will continue to dispatch rescue teams and allocate supplies to flood-hit regions for disaster relief.
Earlier, the ministries of emergency management and finance earmarked 30 million yuan ($4.3 million) for rescue efforts in hard-hit Hubei province.
Central bank, ministries urge lower company costs
The People's Bank of China and three ministries, including the National Development and Reform Commission, have issued a plan detailing major tasks to lower companies' costs this year, and have called for a number of other ministries and local authorities to coordinate their efforts to accomplish the tasks.
According to a notice released on July 28, policies that have reduced value-added tax for small businesses and those that waive VAT for services such as public transportation, hotel and tourism will be extended to the end of this year.
The authorities should also carefully implement policies issued this year, including those that reduce or waive civil aviation development fund and port construction fees.
The notice also set a goal of reducing the cost of broadband access for enterprises by an average of 15 percent.
The authorities have been told to strengthen financial support for the real economy and continue to lower institutional costs through efforts such as relaxing market entry restrictions and streamlining administrative procedures.
Other costs for companies that need to be lowered include rents, electricity charges and logistics expenses, according to the notice.
Guideline backs 'smart construction industry'
The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and 12 other departments have issued a guideline to promote development of a "smart construction industry".
The guideline, released on July 28, aims to upgrade the construction industry with digital and intelligent technologies and make it a more powerful driving force to increase domestic demand.
It set a goal for China to make the industry significantly more industrialized, digitalized and intelligent by 2025 and to become a competitive country in terms of intelligent construction by 2035.
Local authorities should speed up the upgrading of the industry by measures including promoting prefabricated buildings and applying more innovative technologies such as big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and blockchain in the construction process.
They should speed up innovation by measures including developing key technologies and working on application of construction robots featuring functions such as man-machine coordination and interaction and self learning, according to the guideline.
They should also nurture general contractors able to offer intelligent solutions and encourage companies to work closely and innovate together.
The construction industry should apply intelligent technologies to increase efficiency and reduce waste and the consumption of energy, water and other materials, the notice said, adding that it should also promote waste recycling.
Human resources agencies mobilized for job creation
The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security has issued a notice asking local human resources authorities to mobilize the human resources service sector to boost employment.
The notice said the authorities should encourage human resources service agencies to create better online recruitment platforms to meet the needs of various kinds of job seekers.
They should also support the agencies in holding everyday and offline recruitment activities while fully implementing disease prevention measures.
The notice called on the authorities to encourage agencies to focus on companies that are producing key medical supplies, operating public facilities or carrying out other important projects, and offer them services such as recruiting, talent seeking, labor dispatching and employee training.
The authorities should guide the agencies to offer services such as employee management, salary management and development planning to companies hit hard by COVID-19, especially micro-sized, small and medium-sized companies.
They should also support the agencies in promoting employment of college graduates and migrant workers, the notice said.
