In the first eight months of the year, Harbin -- capital city of China's northernmost Heilongjiang province -- signed up 181 new business projects with a total investment of 184.11 billion yuan ($27.62 billion).

That achievement is widely said to have highlighted the effectiveness of work being conducted by the local government on business promotions and improvements to the business environment.

Since the start of the year, the Harbin enterprise and investment service bureau has reportedly been extremely active. 

Representatives have gone to the cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shanghai, Suzhou, Wuxi, Nanjing, Ningbo and Beijing to carry out investment promotion activities, held 10 large-scale promotions meetings and followed up on 157 key investment opportunities. 

Taking advantage of the staging of the Yabuli Forum in Harbin, the city signed 24 strategic cooperation agreements with well-known companies such as Panpan Food, the Fujian Septwolves Group and the Hong Kong-based H. Stars Group.

Meanwhile, it commissioned a new model for investment promotions to stimulate and innovate its incentive mechanisms and disseminated a brochure designed to encourage Harbin citizens living and working in other cities to invest in their hometown.

While bolstering its marketing and promotions, efforts have also been made by Harbin to improve the city's business environment and competitiveness.

Taking the Harbin municipal bureau of natural resources and planning as an example, it issued the Harbin Construction Project Management Measures. This covers the surveying and mapping work involved in the whole process of construction project approvals, supervision and real estate registrations.

The measures have streamlined and optimized applications by 64 percent, reducing the intermediary time limit by 20 percent and cutting down on surveying and mapping costs by an estimated 40 percent.

In addition, the city improved its trustworthiness incentives and strengthened its punishment mechanisms for those not deemed trustworthy. This means it reports bad credit information from surveying and mapping agencies in real time, as well as providing construction ventures with the qualifications and credit status of compliant surveying and mapping operations.