Original Title: Guidelines of the People’s Government of Fujian Province on Promoting High-Quality Development of Development Zones (Min Zheng [2018] No. 15)
People’s Governments of All Cities, Counties (Districts), the Pingtan Comprehensive Experimental Zone Administrative Committee, and All Departments and Directly Affiliated Agencies of the Provincial People’s Government:
Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and thoroughly implementing the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, we will further leverage the role of development zones as pioneers of reform and opening-up to generate new agglomeration effects and growth momentum.By 2020, the regional gross domestic product (GDP) of provincial-level (and above) development zones across the province will exceed 1 trillion yuan; six development zones with a regional GDP exceeding 50 billion yuan and 40 development zones exceeding 10 billion yuan will be established; the total actual utilization of foreign capital will exceed 15 billion yuan; and tax revenue per mu of industrial land will reach 300,000 yuan.The comprehensive strength of the province’s development zones will be significantly enhanced, with markedly improved industrial agglomeration effects and competitiveness. Their role in supporting and driving economic development will be further highlighted, making new and greater contributions to the construction of a New Fujian.
I. Innovating Management Systems and Operational Mechanisms
(1) Establish streamlined and efficient management committees for development zones, implementing flat management structures internally. Explore having the directors of management committees for national-level development zones—such as economic and technological development zones and high-tech industrial development zones—concurrently serve as leaders of their respective prefecture-level cities, and having the directors of management committees for provincial-level development zones—such as economic development zones, industrial parks, and high-tech industrial parks—concurrently serve as leaders of their respective counties (cities, districts). In areas with the necessary conditions, explore replacing the administrative and public institution system of management committees with the establishment of statutory agencies.
Responsible Units: People’s Governments of all prefecture-level cities; Provincial Office of Institutional Reform
(2) Clarify the relationship between development zones and their host counties (cities, districts). Except for development zones entrusted with the administration of townships (subdistricts), public affairs such as environmental protection, work safety, market regulation, public security and stability maintenance, road and utility networks, and greening and sanitation shall be uniformly implemented by the governments of the host counties (cities, districts). The development zone management committees shall cooperate in ensuring the necessary human and material resources and in fulfilling supervisory responsibilities to ensure effective implementation.Reasonably determine the distribution ratios of tax revenues and land proceeds between development zones and their host counties (cities, districts) to ensure parity between fiscal and administrative responsibilities.
Responsible Units: People’s Governments of all prefecture-level cities; Provincial Office of Institutional Reform; Provincial Department of Public Security; Provincial Department of Finance; Provincial Department of Environmental Protection; Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development; Provincial Work Safety Administration
(3) Each development zone shall establish an operating company to implement market-oriented operations, ensuring the separation of government and enterprise functions as well as the separation of government and capital functions from the Management Committee. The operating company shall undertake functions such as park development and construction, investment promotion, investment operations, and specialized services, and may independently or through cooperation operate innovation and entrepreneurship platforms such as technology enterprise incubators, innovation workshops, maker spaces, and accelerators.
Responsible Units: People’s Governments of all prefecture-level cities; Provincial Office of Institutional Reform; Department of Science and Technology
(4) The operating companies of each development zone shall establish modern corporate systems and improve their corporate governance structures. They may engage in cross-shareholding with state-owned capital at various levels to implement mixed-ownership reforms. These operating companies may conduct capital operations through means such as public offerings, bond issuance, the establishment of industrial investment funds, and equity investments, thereby developing into industrial park investment operators with strong capital strength and high operational standards.
Responsible Units: People’s Governments of all prefecture-level cities; Provincial State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, Department of Finance, Development and Reform Commission, Financial Affairs Office; People’s Bank of China Fuzhou Central Branch, People’s Bank of China Xiamen Central Branch; Fujian Securities Regulatory Bureau, Xiamen Securities Regulatory Bureau
II. Strengthening Investment Promotion and Optimizing Services
(1) Promote corporate-style investment promotion. Each prefecture-level city shall classify the various development zones under its jurisdiction based on their development and management levels. Where conditions permit, they may draw on the experience and practices of the Xiamen Torch High-Tech Industrial Development Zone to delegate relevant management authority, establish specialized investment promotion companies, and build investment promotion information platforms and think tanks. Local governments shall tailor performance evaluation methods for these investment promotion companies, provide financial rewards based on investment promotion results, and extend individual rewards according to the extent of their contributions.
Responsible Entities: People’s Governments of all prefecture-level cities
(2) Promote Industry Chain-Based Investment Promotion. Promote the experience of Ningde City in attracting investment for the automotive industry chain centered on Times New Energy. Relying on existing leading enterprises in development zones, attract investment from upstream and downstream sectors of the industry chain to cluster highly related supporting enterprises and form a complete industrial synergy.
Responsible Entities: People’s Governments of all prefecture-level cities
(3) Implement third-party investment promotion. Drawing on Shenzhen’s “Overseas Express” model, further strengthen cooperation with professional investment promotion agencies both domestically and internationally. Expand investment promotion networks through means such as purchasing services.
Responsible Entities: People’s Governments of All Prefecture-Level Cities
(4) Implement investment promotion through industrial funds. Governments at all levels shall study and formulate fund support policies. They may participate in the establishment of industrial funds in development zones in various forms as needed, thereby instilling confidence in market entities and using capital as a catalyst to facilitate the entry of industrial projects into development zones and industrial parks.
Responsible Units: People’s Governments of all prefecture-level cities, Provincial Development and Reform Commission, Provincial Department of Finance
(5) Implement the “Fujian Province Action Plan for Improving the Business Environment.” Introduce various intermediary services and agencies to provide “concierge-style,” “one-stop,” “Internet Plus Government Services” for enterprises operating within development zones, ensuring businesses can handle affairs without leaving the zone—as convenient as “online shopping.”
Responsible entities: People’s Governments of all prefecture-level cities
(6) Development zone operating companies shall proactively collaborate with financial institutions on investment and financing initiatives, providing supply chain financial services to leading enterprises within the zones and their upstream and downstream businesses. Support eligible enterprises in raising funds through domestic guarantees for overseas bond issuance and centralized foreign exchange management by multinational corporations. Encourage core leading enterprises within industrial chains to innovate by issuing supply chain bills, using the raised funds to provide financing support to upstream and downstream enterprises, and to pioneer innovations in accounts receivable pledge financing.
Responsible entities: People’s Governments of all prefecture-level cities; the People’s Bank of China Fuzhou Central Branch, the Provincial Foreign Exchange Administration, the People’s Bank of China Xiamen Central Branch, and all financial institutions
(7) Development zones may explore establishing investment holding companies, improve venture capital management and exit mechanisms, expand financing channels for “mass entrepreneurship and innovation,” promote pilot programs for unsecured loans to technology-based small, medium, and micro enterprises, and support insurance companies in offering loan guarantee insurance for such enterprises.
Responsible entities: People’s Governments of all prefecture-level cities; Provincial Financial Office; Fujian Insurance Regulatory Bureau and Xiamen Insurance Regulatory Bureau
III. Accelerating Industrial Agglomeration and Transformation and Upgrading
(1) Development zones should identify 1–2 leading industries based on their geographical characteristics, resource endowments, industrial foundations, and environmental capacity, pursue a path of specialized development, formulate and publish a guidance catalog for attracting industrial clusters, and strictly enforce project entry requirements. Coastal development zones should actively coordinate with fishing port economic zones for integrated development, implement the “National Coastal Fishing Port Construction Plan (2018–2025),” and extend the marine industrial chain.
Responsible Units: People’s Governments of all prefecture-level cities; Provincial Department of Economy and Information Technology, Development and Reform Commission, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Commerce, and Department of Ocean and Fisheries
(2) Implement the High-Quality and Catch-up Development Plan for Enterprises in Development Zones; identify a group of leading and growth-oriented enterprises; leverage the leading, clustering, and supporting roles of leading enterprises; and support growth-oriented enterprises in becoming better, larger, and stronger. Provincial-level incentive and support policies should be prioritized for leading and growth-oriented enterprises in development zones. Emphasis should be placed on identifying and nurturing “unicorn” enterprises.
Responsible Units: People’s Governments of all prefecture-level cities; Provincial Commission of Economy and Information Technology, Department of Science and Technology, Development and Reform Commission, and Department of Commerce
(3) Economic (Technological) Development Zones and High-Tech Industrial Development Zones (Parks) shall accelerate the establishment of a number of manufacturing innovation centers, national engineering and technology research centers, as well as enterprise R&D centers, industrial design centers, engineering testing facilities, and other technological innovation platforms.Innovate mechanisms for talent cultivation and recruitment. Improve the fast-track evaluation system for senior professional titles for high-level overseas talent and urgently needed talent. In accordance with the principle of tiered management, explore pilot programs for special institutional staffing quotas for high-level talent in development zones, and promote a “dual residency” system allowing talent to be registered in both development zones and public institutions such as universities and research institutes. Improve municipal infrastructure and supporting facilities in education, commerce, and entertainment to create a livable and business-friendly environment, thereby providing the necessary conditions for attracting mid-to-high-level talent.
Responsible Units: People’s Governments of all prefecture-level cities; Provincial Department of Economy and Information Technology, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Education, Department of Human Resources and Social Security, Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and Office of Institutional Reform
(4) Promote the green transformation of traditional industries in development zones, strengthen the management of binding indicators, and build green factories to achieve intensive use of factory space, harmless raw materials, clean production, resource recovery from waste, and low-carbon energy. Promote circular production in enterprises and circular industrial combinations, establish public platforms for resource sharing, waste treatment, and efficient services, and facilitate the exchange and utilization of waste, cascading use of energy, and the classification and recycling of water.
Responsible Units: People’s Governments of all prefecture-level cities; Provincial Commission of Economy and Information Technology; Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment
IV. Promoting Regional Collaboration and Resource Integration
(1) Relevant development zones within the Northeast Fujian and Southwest Fujian Economic Cooperation Zones shall proactively engage in cooperative development. The cooperating parties may agree to share economic indicators—such as industrial value-added, fixed-asset investment, and investment attraction—as well as tax revenues from the jointly developed zones. When conducting performance evaluations within the province, the cooperating parties are permitted to include 100% of the relevant indicators originating from the jointly developed zones in their respective statistics.
Responsible Units: People’s Governments of all prefecture-level cities; Provincial Department of Commerce, Department of Economy and Information Technology, Department of Science and Technology, Development and Reform Commission, and Bureau of Statistics
(2) Relevant development zones within the Northeast and Southwest Fujian Economic Cooperation Zones may participate in the joint establishment of market-oriented equity funds to make strategic investments in innovative industrial projects or enterprises—both domestic and international—that demonstrate strong growth potential and promising prospects.
Responsible Units: People’s Governments of all prefecture-level cities; Provincial Development and Reform Commission, Department of Finance, Financial Affairs Office, Economic and Information Commission, Department of Science and Technology, and Department of Commerce
(3) With national-level development zones and provincial-level development zones with higher levels of development as the main entities, integrate or take over development zones that are geographically adjacent and have similar industrial profiles. For development zones located in central urban areas with a low proportion of industry, promote their transformation into urban functional zones. Clean up, integrate, or abolish small, scattered, and weak development zones of all types.
Responsible Units: People’s Governments of all prefecture-level cities; Provincial Department of Commerce, Commission of Economy and Information Technology, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Land and Resources, Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and Office of Institutional Reform
(4) Development zones with the necessary conditions may plan “parks within parks,” collaborate with foreign government departments or investment promotion agencies, and encourage foreign-invested enterprises to participate in construction and operations to create international industrial cooperation parks with relatively concentrated sources of foreign investment. Development zones with the necessary conditions may establish industrial parks overseas, particularly in countries and regions along the “Maritime Silk Road,” to strengthen international industrial capacity cooperation.
Responsible Units: People’s Governments of all prefecture-level cities; Provincial Department of Commerce, Development and Reform Commission, Foreign Affairs Office, and Council for the Promotion of International Trade; People’s Bank of China Fuzhou Central Branch, Provincial Foreign Exchange Administration, and People’s Bank of China Xiamen Central Branch
V. Intensive Land Use
(1) Development zones must submit land use applications for construction projects in phases according to project progress and supply land accordingly to prevent situations where approved land exceeds actual construction or leads to idleness and waste.Actively revitalize existing land that has been approved but not supplied, supplied but not used, or underutilized. Implement the “replacing old industries with new ones” strategy, clear idle land, and improve land utilization efficiency and input-output ratios. Encourage the redevelopment of underutilized industrial land. For industrial land included in the “three olds” (old urban areas, old villages, and old factories) renovation plan, if the land is re-supplied after government acquisition and reserve, it must be transferred through bidding, auction, or listing; the remainder may be transferred via agreement.Where low-efficiency industrial land is repurposed for advanced manufacturing, or for emerging industries such as information services, R&D and design, and creative culture, as well as for productive or high-tech service industries encouraged by the province, the land use change procedures may be temporarily waived. During a five-year transition period, the land may continue to be used according to its original purpose and land rights type. Land within development zones shall be incorporated into the county (city, district) where they are located to implement a system linking the revitalization of existing land with the approval of new land use.All provincial-level (and above) development zones shall be included in the evaluation of intensive land use. Three years after a development zone is established, if its ranking in the evaluation of land conservation and intensive use places it among the bottom five development zones of the same level in the province, it shall, in principle, revitalize existing construction land and suspend applications for the conversion of agricultural land; if it ranks among the top five, it shall be given priority in the allocation of 300 mu of land reserve approval quotas.Strictly implement the "Measures for the Disposal of Idle Land," and standardize procedures such as investigation, determination, notification, hearings, and the issuance of disposal decisions. For land idleness caused by government factors, dispose of it through measures such as signing supplementary agreements, rescheduling start and completion dates, agreed-upon compensated reclamation, or land swaps; for land idleness caused by enterprise factors, dispose of it through measures such as collecting land idleness fees or reclaiming the land in accordance with the law.
Responsible Units: People’s Governments of all prefecture-level cities; Provincial Department of Land and Resources
(2) Development zones may reasonably determine the specific concession period for land parcels within the statutory maximum concession period for industrial land, based on the normal life cycle of industrial projects and industry characteristics. Development zones with the necessary conditions are encouraged to supply various types of industrial land (excluding residential projects) through long-term leases or “lease-to-own” arrangements. When supplying land through “lease-to-own” or similar methods, the supply plan must clearly specify the conditions for converting leased land into granted land and must be implemented only after approval by the people’s government with the authority to approve.Where the law requires the use of bidding, auction, or listing methods for land transfer based on land use, such procedures may be conducted during the lease phase; when the lessee meets the contractual conditions for land transfer after using the leased land, the transfer may be conducted through negotiation. Development zone management committees or operating companies shall proactively provide corresponding credit enhancement for enterprises applying for financing from financial institutions.
Responsible Units: People’s Governments of all prefecture-level cities, Provincial Department of Land and Resources, People’s Bank of China Fuzhou Central Branch, People’s Bank of China Xiamen Central Branch, and all financial institutions
(3) Guide industrial projects to “relocate from urban areas to industrial parks” and strictly control the allocation of new industrial land outside development zones. Where it is indeed necessary to locate major industrial projects or those with special process requirements outside development zones, rigorous scientific justification must be provided. Strictly enforce the regulation that new hazardous chemical projects must be located within chemical industrial parks or concentrated chemical zones.For enterprises undergoing “transition from secondary to tertiary industries,” “relocation from urban areas to industrial parks,” or transformation and upgrading, priority shall be given to allocating construction land within industrial parks or coordinating the leasing of standard factory buildings, and relevant land approval procedures shall be expedited. For industrial enterprises whose original state-owned land use rights have been reclaimed due to the relocation and renovation of old industrial zones in urban areas, upon approval, land for the same purpose may be allocated through negotiated transfer in accordance with land use standards.
Responsible Units: People’s Governments of all prefecture-level cities; Provincial Department of Land and Resources, Department of Environmental Protection, and Bureau of Work Safety
(4) For industrial enterprises in development zones that comply with planning and safety requirements and do not change the land use purpose, no additional land premiums will be charged for adding floors to existing factory buildings on their original construction land to increase the floor area ratio. For enterprises investing in the construction of new standard factory buildings with four or more stories or upgrading existing factory buildings to four or more stories, the provincial technical transformation special fund may provide subsidies for the newly added freight elevators.Industrial enterprises in development zones that utilize existing factory buildings and land to establish production-oriented service industries may temporarily refrain from processing land use change procedures during the transition period. Industrial enterprises in development zones are encouraged to comprehensively develop and utilize underground space; for existing projects that develop underground space as supporting or ancillary facilities for above-ground structures, the land use rights for such underground space may be granted through negotiated agreements.
Responsible Units: People’s Governments of all prefecture-level cities; Provincial Department of Land and Resources, Provincial Commission of Economy and Information Technology, Provincial Department of Finance
VI. Support Measures
(1) Establish a joint conference mechanism for development zones. A provincial government leader in charge of the relevant portfolio shall serve as convener, with heads of provincial departments including Commerce, Development and Reform, Economy and Information Technology, Science and Technology, Finance, Land and Resources, Environmental Protection, Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Forestry, Ocean and Fisheries, Work Safety Supervision, Statistics, Finance, and Customs serving as members. The office shall be located within the Provincial Department of Commerce. Major investment promotion projects in development zones and incentive and support policies for leading enterprises shall be reviewed on a case-by-case basis through the joint conference.
Responsible Units: Provincial Department of Commerce, Development and Reform Commission, Economic and Information Technology Commission, Science and Technology Department, Department of Finance, Department of Land and Resources, Department of Environmental Protection, Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Department of Forestry, Department of Ocean and Fisheries, Work Safety Administration, Bureau of Statistics, Financial Office, Fuzhou Customs, Xiamen Customs
(2) Strengthen Categorized Guidance. National-level economic and technological development zones and customs special supervision zones shall be managed under the leadership of the provincial commerce department; national-level high-tech industrial development zones and provincial-level high-tech industrial parks shall be managed under the leadership of the provincial science and technology department; and provincial-level economic development zones (industrial parks) shall be managed under the leadership of the provincial commerce and economic and information technology departments. The above shall be implemented in accordance with the newly established primary responsibilities, internal organizational structures, and staffing plans of each unit.Each lead administrative department shall strictly enforce admission standards and provide review opinions on applications submitted by municipal people’s governments regarding the establishment, expansion, or reorganization of development zones.The provincial environmental protection department, the respective lead administrative departments, and relevant functional departments shall guide each development zone to conduct environmental impact assessments in accordance with industrial development directions, ensure timely and proper centralized treatment of sewage, solid waste, and hazardous waste, and establish centralized heating and environmental emergency response systems, while strengthening in-process and post-event supervision. Provincial, municipal, and county statistics departments shall collaborate with the lead administrative departments to carry out statistical work for development zones.
Responsible Units: People’s Governments of all prefecture-level cities; Provincial Department of Commerce, Commission of Economy and Information Technology, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Land and Resources, Department of Environmental Protection, Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Bureau of Statistics, and Office of Institutional Reform
(3) Improve Assessment, Evaluation, and Incentive Mechanisms. Drawing on the experiences of advanced regions, establish performance evaluations for development zones that emphasize key indicators such as land use efficiency, fiscal revenue, innovation capacity, and ecological and environmental protection. Additionally, evaluate the performance of Party and government leaders within development zone management bodies regarding their implementation of responsibilities for ecological and environmental protection and workplace safety.The Provincial Department of Commerce, in conjunction with the Provincial Departments of Economy and Information Technology and Science and Technology, shall organize an annual comprehensive evaluation of provincial-level (and above) development zones and publicize the results. For those ranking at the top, the respective lead administrative departments shall formulate and implement incentive policies; for the five provincial-level development zones with the lowest rankings, warnings shall be issued and rectification within a specified timeframe shall be required. If rectification is not fully completed within the deadline, the heads of the management committees shall be held accountable, up to and including disciplinary measures such as demotion or dismissal;For provincial-level development zones that rank last in the province for two consecutive years, a mandatory rectification period will be established based on specific circumstances; if rectification is not completed by the deadline, the zone will be removed from the provincial-level development zone management system, and corresponding adjustments will be made to its institutional staffing. Development zones where the per-unit industrial land tax revenue exceeds the previous year’s provincial average for provincial-level development zones will be permitted to apply for provincial-level development zone status; provincial-level development zones with per-unit industrial land tax revenue ranking in the top 10 in the province will be permitted to apply for expansion.
Responsible Units: People’s Governments of all prefecture-level cities; Provincial Department of Commerce, Department of Economy and Information Technology, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Land and Resources, Department of Environmental Protection, Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Bureau of Work Safety, Bureau of Statistics, and Office of Institutional Reform
