The Shanghai municipal government has scrapped 101 items and simplified 142 others in its list of affairs that need a government stamp, said government spokesman Jiang Lai on Wednesday.

The 243 items mostly related to government charges on companies and construction projects, he said.

The city government would continue reducing and changing regulations of this kind.

So far the city government has abolished and simplified 1,044 items of the 2,027 affairs that are required to be approved by the government.

The procedure to register a company at the administration has shortened from half a month to a week.

A real estate project takes 100 days to get approval, compared with a year before the government cut half of the 81 items that need a stamp.

The government expected the efforts will improve the transparency and efficiency of the administrations, Jiang said.

(Xinhua News Agency July 31, 2003)