A series of measures released by the city government Friday to guide the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) prevention and control work and boost the city’s economic development have received a warm response from the public, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported yesterday.
“It is a very timely release of such detailed measures,” said Yuan Xiaojiang, a professor with the Party School of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the CPC.
He said the city’s efforts on COVID-19 prevention are paying off, but it doesn’t mean that the epidemic has ended, and negligence may result in new outbreaks and further spread.
One of the measures stresses that focus should be shifted toward the orderly economic development of districts and areas that are less hard hit by the virus, as well as preventing imported COVID-19 cases, containing the spread of the virus inside the city and stopping exported cases to other cities.
Local businesspeople spoke highly of the measures that offer preferential policies to bring businesses back to normal operations.
Zhang Shaohua, chairman of Shenzhen Transportation Engineering Group Co. Ltd. and deputy director of Shenzhen Federation of Industry and Commerce, said the measures have addressed difficulties that many enterprises face in the resumption of work, such as shortages of virus-prevention gear and laborers who left the city to attend family reunions in their hometowns during the Chinese New Year.
The city has launched a number of online platforms, such as the 12345 Epidemic Prevention Consultation Platform for Enterprises, in order to quickly respond to companies’ appeals related to work resumption and offer solutions to their problems.
The city will also add more inter-city bus services to help people return to work.
The measures also emphasize the implementation of 16 preferential policies that have been rolled out to help enterprises overcome financial difficulties as a result of the epidemic.
Policies regarding low or zero-interest loans subsidized by the government, tax and fees reduction, delayed tax payments and special bonds have been designed to address the cash flow problem faced by many enterprises as production has been halted by the epidemic in past months.
“All these measures, such as the reduction of a value-added tax rate for small-scale taxpayers of 3 percent to 1 percent, have been catered to small and medium-sized enterprises, which are more vulnerable to the epidemic,” said Nie Zhuqing, general manager of Shenzhen Pengxin Assets Assessment and Real Estate Appraisal Co. Ltd. who is also a Guangdong political adviser.
According to the measures, the city government will invest heavily into projects related to residents’ livelihood, public health and the construction of the pilot demonstration area of socialism with Chinese characteristics this year, involving a total investment of 200 billion yuan (US$28.5 billion).