Shanxi vows zero tolerance to unqualified provincial-level economic and technological development zones.

To date, Shanxi has 23 economic and technological development zones which did not?create enough driving force to the province's economic development. The province has been working to transfer these zones from a government to a market orientation, prioritizing their development quality rather than speed.

To figure out the problems in the zones' management systems and operation mechanisms, Shanxi government has published two documents, with advices and administrative measures for these zones' restructuring.

The government has mapped out 18 recommendations, such as setting development funds of 100 million yuan ($16.13 million) and curbing the power of bureaucrats.

The administration measures that newly released by the provincial government were designed to regulate the approval procedures of the provincial-level development zones' establishment, upgrade, expansion and disqualification.

A work conference on development zones was held on May 20. The conference declared that a zone which has poor performance in land utilization, environmental protection and development, and has poor evaluations for three successive years, will be disqualified as a provincial-level development zone and can not reapply for three years.