Recently, the “Decision of the People’s Government of Guangzhou Municipality on Adjusting Certain Municipal-level Administrative Functions for Implementation by Huadu District” (Decree No. 224 of the People’s Government of Guangzhou Municipality) was officially issued. It clarifies that 5 municipal-level administrative functions shall be adjusted for implementation by the People’s Government of Huadu District and its relevant departments, and 12 municipal-level administrative functions shall be adjusted for implementation by the Administrative Committee of Guangzhou Huadu Economic and Technological Development Zone within the jurisdiction of Huadu Economic and Technological Development Zone. This marks another landmark major strategic achievement for Huadu Economic and Technological Development Zone following its successful upgrade to a national-level economic and technological development zone.

This power delegation constitutes a crucial step for Huadu Economic and Technological Development Zone to comprehensively deepen reform and pursue innovative breakthroughs. In strict alignment with superior documents including the “Work Plan for Deepening the Reform and Innovation of National-level Economic and Technological Development Zones to Lead High-quality Development through High-level Opening-up” issued by the Ministry of Commerce, and the “Guiding Opinions on Standardized Construction of Development Zones in Guangdong Province” jointly released by the Guangdong Provincial Development and Reform Commission, Department of Commerce, Department of Science and Technology, and Department of Industry and Information Technology, the development zone has built on the solid reform foundation laid by securing and implementing the first batch of provincial-level administrative powers. Seizing momentum and pressing ahead with tough reforms, it has advanced the devolution of municipal-level administrative functions. With the overlapping implementation of provincial and municipal powers, the zone will truly realize "handling zone-related matters within the zone". Administrative efficiency will be markedly improved, market vitality continuously unleashed, injecting strong internal driving force into accelerated development, comprehensive deepening of reforms and expanded opening-up of the development zone.

A high value power "gift package": More convenient services for enterprises and the public

The 17 devolved functions cover key sectors including planning, housing and urban rural construction, health, and market regulation. They run through the full lifecycle of enterprise projects from landing, construction to operation, addressing core approval demands across multiple fields.

In the fields of planning and natural resources, housing and urban-rural development, forestry and landscape, water affairs, and emergency management, core full-process functions including land supply, planning approval, forest land utilization, engineering construction, factor guarantee and safety supervision have been intensively delegated. Such delegation fully meets the full-lifecycle approval requirements of leading industrial projects such as new-energy vehicles and advanced manufacturing from project initiation to commissioning. The systematic restructuring of approval procedures greatly shortens project construction cycles, whole-chain safety supervision consolidates the defense line for real-economy development, and the foundation for the growth of advanced manufacturing industries is further solidified.

In the field of health, municipal-level approval powers including hygiene licenses for large-scale public places, practice registration of high-end medical institutions, and practice administration for foreign-related medical and nursing personnel are fully taken over. Leveraging international-standard medical services and commercial supporting capacity, the zone further amplifies its advantages as an air-rail hub, smoothes channels for global personnel and commercial flows, and continuously elevates its opening-up capacity.

In the field of market regulation, through the targeted devolution of the filing authority for domestic-funded joint-stock limited companies, a full-cycle service system covering enterprise establishment, governance, operation and capital operation has been established. It continuously optimizes the development ecosystem for modern commerce and trade, provides solid safeguards for the vigorous growth of new business forms such as exhibition economy, cross-border ecommerce and live-stream ecommerce, and stimulates the vitality of commercial and economic development.

Following the power devolution, various businesses that previously required trips to municipal departments can now be completed with one stop services within the district. A refined government service system will further unlock development strengths, consistently attract high quality projects in high end manufacturing, commercial services, healthcare and other sectors, accelerate the growth of industrial clusters, and help Huadu Economic and Technological Development Zone steadily attain its development goals of being an "open hub, intelligent manufacturing highland and dynamic new port".

Robust industrial momentum: Solid strengths generate new reform demands

At present, Huadu District is pooling efforts across the whole region to advance the construction of Guangzhou International Commercial Port, a major strategic platform entrusted to Huadu by the Provincial and Municipal Party Committees. The 17 municipal-level functions devolved this time serve as both a "timely rain" for Huadu Economic and Technological Development Zone to boost its endogenous development momentum and an "initiative move" to underpin the construction of this strategic platform.

Taking this opportunity, Huadu Economic and Technological Development Zone is accelerating the implementation of the spatial layout of "One Core, One City and Three Hubs". Specifically, it takes the Huadu Lake Digital Intelligence Pioneer Core as the innovation engine, the Intelligent Connected and New Energy Vehicle City as the manufacturing foundation, and Guangzhou International Commercial Port, Airport oriented Digital Intelligence Port and Cross border E commerce International Hub Port as opening up hubs, striving to foster a new development landscape for the modern industrial system. As the blueprint is fully rolled out, the zone’s industrial agglomeration effect is taking shape at an accelerated pace, laying an increasingly solid foundation for high quality development. In 2025, the total output value of industrial enterprises above designated size in the zone exceeded RMB 220 billion, the actually utilized foreign capital surged by more than 3.6 times, the number of high tech enterprises topped 1,000, and over 100 provincial level and above R&D institutions were gathered here. Boasting remarkable investment promotion results in the first half of this year, major breakthroughs have been made in billion dollar level projects. The Vanyang South China Headquarters with a total investment of RMB 12 billion, as well as the Welion Solid state Battery Industrial Park and the Greater Bay Area Research Institute with a total investment of RMB 2 billion, have been successfully signed and settled. Leading enterprises and industrial chain supporting projects are gathering rapidly, and driving forces for the development of new quality industries keep being unleashed.

As market entities in the Zone keep expanding, especially after the launch of Guangzhou International Commercial Port, demands for services covering project planning, land-use approval, engineering construction, daily operation and people-wellbeing services will keep surging. Previously, many core approval powers rested with municipal authorities, forcing enterprises to submit applications across administrative levels with numerous procedures and long lead times, which to some extent slowed down project progress. Enterprises look forward to streamlined procedures, projects to faster implementation, and residents to nearby access to government services. The devolution of municipal-level powers to the zone is a measure that follows the general trend of development and responds to the urgent demands of market entities and the public.

Deepen service oriented reforms: Strive to build a first class business environment featuring "handling zone related matters within the zone"

Taking over municipal-level powers represents not only a landmark policy dividend for Huadu Economic and Technological Development Zone following its upgrade to a national level economic and technological development zone, but also a critical practical test for the zone’s governance capacity. Attaching equal importance to "power takeover" and "service delivery", the zone will effectively translate policy dividends into tangible development outcomes for enterprises, and build a high standard one stop service platform integrating "policy consultation, project docking, approval services and elements guarantee".

Focus on the precise takeover of delegated functions to ensure "stable takeover and efficient processing". Implementation rules shall be formulated item-by-item for the 17 devolved municipal-level administrative functions. Handling procedures will be fully reviewed and optimized, application documents streamlined, and approval time limits shortened. Convenient measures such as "offsite approval" and "joint processing of five certificates" will be vigorously promoted to truly realize "handling zone-related matters within the zone" for municipal-level approval businesses. The institutional transaction costs for enterprises will be minimized, enabling enterprises and the public to fully reap the reform dividends of "conducting municipal-level services onsite".

Optimize the full-cycle "Park Steward" services to ensure "high-quality services and sound development". Specialized steward teams will be set up for key industrial platforms and ten-billion-yuan-level projects, and exclusive dedicated stewards will be assigned for medium-sized industrial clusters, shifting the service model from "enterprises seeking services actively" to "stewards delivering services initiatively". A linkage mechanism of "stewards issuing alerts, departments responding promptly" will be established. Regular steward coordination meetings will be held to remove bottlenecks in project implementation, and a closed-loop management mechanism of "collection --- assignment --- handling --- feedback --- follow-up visit" will be strictly implemented. With precise and professional services to support the full lifecycle growth of enterprises, the zone will effectively translate service efficiency into driving forces for industrial upgrading, accelerated project progress and improved enterprise operational efficiency.

Power devolution is only the first step, while service optimization stands as the top priority. Going forward, Huadu Economic and Technological Development Zone will seize policy opportunities, continue to comprehensively deepen reform, expand opening-up and strengthen industries, convert spatial and policy advantages into tangible development strengths, strive to build a benchmark for reform and innovation among national-level economic and technological development zones in the Greater Bay Area, and contribute more Huadu strength to consolidate Guangzhou’s northern growth pole and promote high-quality regional development.