Harbin city in China’s northernmost Heilongjiang province has significantly improved its business environment over a four-year period.

In 2020, at a business environment assessment organized by the National Development and Reform Commission, Harbin ranked third in the “ease of doing business” evaluation among 21 cities in the Northeast China region, which includes cities from Inner Mongolia autonomous region, Heilongiang, Jilin and Liaoning provinces.

The same year, Harbin ranked sixth among 32 key cities across the country in the State Council’s evaluation of online government service capabilities.

Also, Harbin’s efforts to build a social credit system were promoted nationwide by the General Office of the State Council.

Over the past four years, Harbin has insisted on taking its business environment as an important indicator of market competitiveness, reducing the time frame for administrative approval, optimizing government services and reducing the number of necessary materials for the approval process.

At present, the procedural level of 1,200 government service items in more than 40 departments in Harbin city has reached or approached the top national level.

The approval time for starting a business has been reduced from five working days in 2018 to within six hours at present.

Construction project approval has been streamlined and optimized, with authorization times dropping from 38-83 working days in 2019 to 35-67 working days.

The application materials required to access water, electricity and gas have been reduced to the lowest level in the country, and the processing time limit is basically the same as that of China’s advanced cities.

Meanwhile, real estate registration in Harbin has been accelerated seven times in three years, and the city’s comprehensive index of real estate registration transactions is first nationwide.