The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was held in Beijing from July 15 to 18, 2024. In his explanatory remarks on the "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform and Advancing Chinese Modernization," General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "To turn the blueprint of Chinese modernization into reality, the fundamental task is to further comprehensively deepen reform, continuously improve institutions and mechanisms in all areas, and provide institutional guarantees for advancing Chinese modernization."

Starting today, this newspaper launches the column "Anchoring Modernization, Deepening Reform Further," in which editors and reporters go deep into frontline grassroots units such as government agencies, villages, communities, schools, hospitals, and enterprises, focusing on the vivid practice of the spirit of the plenary session taking root, reporting from a micro perspective on the tangible sense of gain that reform and opening up have brought to the people, and showcasing the enterprising spirit of the broad ranks of Party members, cadres, and the masses as they actively devote themselves to the cause of reform and opening up.

The reform and optimization of the administrative approval process have enabled the construction of the Xiong'an New Area, which is growing vigorously, to change with each passing day.

"Within one month, from acquiring the land to entering the site for leveling and earthwork excavation—this speed is hard to imagine." On July 23, Zhang Yupeng, who is responsible for the preliminary approval applications for the Sinochem Tower, said with emotion to the reporter. In March this year, the tower was topped out; in June, the last component was installed; and now, interior fine decoration has progressed to the 25th floor.

What is "hard to imagine" is not the construction speed, but the administrative approval. The acceleration stems from the reform of the administrative approval system featuring "one seal to the end."

Known as the "Golden Reed" of the Xiong'an New Area, the Sinochem Tower stands 150 meters tall and is the tallest building in the new area. According to past practice, for a project of this scale, obtaining a construction permit would take at least half a year: "Only when all materials—construction drawings, fine decoration drawings, mechanical and electrical plans, landscaping, and landscape design, etc.—are complete can construction begin," said a project development staff member.

Building the Xiong'an New Area to high standards and high quality is a major strategic deployment made by the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core in the new era. Long approval times and numerous procedures once affected the construction speed of the Xiong'an New Area.

How can approvals be accelerated? The answer of the Xiong'an New Area is "reform": "start construction upon land acquisition" and phased approval of construction permits. The reform focuses on building construction projects and municipal projects with large earthwork volumes: earthwork excavation, foundation pit support, and dewatering works are tendered first, and upon receiving the construction preparation letter, non-main-structure works can begin; afterward, construction permits are approved to the extent that construction conditions mature, truly making approval serve construction and accelerate construction.

In the Xiong'an New Area, the construction permit is also not the "construction project construction permit" in the traditional sense; rather, it integrates permits from multiple industries—housing construction, municipal works, water conservancy, highways, water transport, and landscaping—which have different rules and procedures, into a unified standard. "There is no longer any need to visit multiple departments to apply for multiple permits; now there is only this one—the construction project construction permit," said Zhang Yupeng.

With so many different businesses, how are they coordinated together?

Lu Quanyan, who began working in the Xiong'an New Area in 2020, witnessed such a "slimmed-down and efficient" organizational structure for the first time. His work unit is the Construction and Transportation Administration Bureau, whose business covers urban and rural construction, comprehensive transportation, water conservancy and water affairs, municipal landscaping, and urban management. With multiple fields under the same department, permit approvals could be integrated into one.

What was integrated is not only the Construction and Transportation Administration Bureau. Most administrative licensing authority in the Xiong'an New Area has been centralized under the Public Service Bureau for unified exercise. At the Xiong'an New Area Government Service Center, all approval-functional departments are stationed, and 824 government service items have achieved "all that should be included is included." In the hall and at the windows, clerks no longer merely receive materials; they are dispatched by various functional departments and are familiar with all approval processes, so matters can be handled from acceptance to completion without leaving the center—"one seal to the end," efficiently completing a single matter. To date, the Xiong'an New Area Government Service Center has used its seal more than 80,000 times.

Among the many windows, the comprehensive acceptance window for investment and construction projects is very busy.

Over the past few years, the approval process for construction projects has undergone multiple minor adjustments, and Lu Quanyan has seen reform deepening: under the central government-authorized pilot and the commitment system, the design plan review opinion letter and the construction preparation letter can be obtained on the same day, saving at least 7 days compared with the previous preparation of procedures in multiple respects; three types of notification letters, including construction project quality supervision, and the construction permit are obtained simultaneously, saving at least another 10 days...

Approval must be fast, and construction quality must be good. Strengthening quality supervision still depends on reform and innovation. In the Xiong'an New Area, the digital and intelligent transformation of quality supervision has played an indispensable role: government data sharing, non-contact law enforcement inspections, phased entry and verification of construction building information models, and risk points assessed through data.

Let people no longer run to multiple places to handle matters, let investment land more quickly, and let construction proceed more smoothly. On the new journey of further comprehensively deepening reform, the Xiong'an New Area is writing a new answer.