The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) website yesterday released the "Notice on Improving and Standardizing the Approval of Investment Projects and Strengthening Coordinated Supervision," requiring that approval projects in overcapacity industries such as cement be retained, strictly prohibiting new capacity, and setting regulatory requirements for narrowing the scope of government approval of enterprise investment projects.

　　The notice requires that for industries with severe overcapacity such as steel, electrolytic aluminum, cement, flat glass and shipbuilding, the construction of new capacity projects is strictly prohibited. Local authorities and all departments must not, under any name or by any means, approve or file new capacity projects in industries with severe overcapacity; relevant departments must not handle procedures such as planning site selection, land (sea area) supply, environmental impact assessment approval, and energy conservation assessment review for such projects; and financial institutions must not provide loans for them.

　　Luo Guosan, deputy director of the Investment Department of the NDRC, said during an online exchange with netizens about the "Catalogue of Investment Projects Subject to Government Approval" that for projects in certain overcapacity fields, such as steel, cement, electrolytic aluminum and shipbuilding, the NDRC has temporarily retained approval for such projects in order to coordinate with the State Council's policy requirements for resolving serious overcapacity contradictions in some industries.

　　"But the next step is also to promptly formulate policy conditions such as development plans, industrial policies, technology policies, access standards and total volume control requirements, accelerate the transformation of the development model, and once conditions are ripe, resolutely cancel or delegate the approval authority for such projects," Luo Guosan said.