Development zones to get access to bank funds after crackdown

CHINA'S economic and technological development zones, which have survived the latest round of rectification aimed at stopping repetitive projects, will get access to funds from state-owned banks, according to a Guangzhou official.

Zhu Bingheng, an official of the Administration Committee of Guangzhou Economic and Technological Development District, said established development zones would not be subject to further credit control.

In the past decade, the State Council has approved the setting up of 81 development zones, which enjoy similar preferential policies granted to the five special economic zones.

But more than 5,000 development zones of various types are believed to have been set up in the past few years by local authorities, sometimes by towns and villages, which were eager to absorb foreign investment.

The proliferation of development zones resulted in wastage of farmland, competition for resources and repetition of projects, prompting a government crackdown in the middle of this year to check unauthorised zones.

Mr Zhu said China's state-owned specialised banks would be transformed into commercial banks next year, and they would have to decide whether to support a project on the basis of the profitability of the project.