The civil servants from the Zhanjiang Industrial and Commercial Bureau provide one-stop services at the municipal administrative service center in the summer of 2014.

Zhanjiang’s private sector created more than 160,000 new jobs for local people, increasing 30 percent year-on-year, according to the Zhanjiang Municipal Industrial and Commercial Bureau.

Statistics from the municipal industrial and commercial bureau showed that 4,413 private enterprises and 26,600 individual businesses were newly added to the industry and commerce registration list in Zhanjiang last year, raising the total number of private sector players to 200,390, up 11.2 percent from the previous year.

Zhanjiang has launched an institutional reform on commercial affairs since the second half of 2012, when Guangdong provincial government designated the city as a pilot city in establishing the market supervision system.

The municipal government took a series of measures to create favorable conditions for doing business , such as streamlining registration procedures, and lowering the thresholds of registered capital, business scope and residence for business applicants.

According to a senior official from Zhanjiang Municipal Industrial and Commercial Bureau, the government integrated industrial and commercial registration and enterprise registration for newly registered enterprises and individual businesses, and provided one-stop services to applicants at the municipal administrative service center.

The procedural streamlining effectively shortened time for enterprises to register and go through other administrative formalities. According to the official, the Zhanjiang Iron & Steel Co. under the Baosteel Group completed the registered capital alteration procedures within two hours, and the Zhanjiang Branch of the China Everbright Bank finished registration within one hour, which would have taken several days before the reform was implemented.

The online data base also made government services smarter, “All industrial and commercial registration counters in any counties and districts of Zhanjiang city can accept enterprises’ registration materials, whether the enterprises fall within the area under the bureau’s jurisdiction or not,” the official said.

Since the institutional reform was implemented, a total of 63,000 new players joined in the private sector of Zhanjiang, including 8,605 private enterprises and 52,800 individual businesses, generating 319,400 new jobs.

An enterprise executive said that the streamlined administrative procedures and improved market access was one of the key reasons for entrepreneurs to invest in Zhanjiang.

The municipal industrial and commercial bureau also helped local enterprises in merging, expanding financing channels, and applying for “well-known trademark” at national and provincial levels, to promote the enterprises to a higher level.