When Ma Baoyu and three of his business partners went to Yinchuan Citizens Hall to register their new company, they were amazed when they were handed their business license in less than four hours.

Yinchuan Citizens Hall provides locals with a one-stop local government administrative service. There are 69 official stamps on display that in the past were used for a range of approval procedures. The stamps are no longer needed, thanks to the smart administration reforms introduced by the local government.

The reforms are an integral part of Yinchuan's drive to build a smart city.

"The traditional government service model places great emphasis on administrative approval procedures, but little on supervision, and, as a result, approvals efficiency has been low," said Guo Bochun, the city's vice mayor.

At the end of 2014, an administrative approval office was founded in the Yinchuan government, integrating the approval services that were previously done by 26 departments, saving 80 percent of time for applicants on average.

"I no longer have to go to different government offices for approval, and I feel more confident about my business," said Ma. "The government has done a great job."

About 210 services can now be done online, and a smartphone app has been developed to offer more convenience.

The vice-major said the smart administration also means improvement of urban management.

"The current urban management is largely passive, focusing on dealing with problems after they happen," he said. "Using smart technologies, we can change the model into an active one, analyzing situations and trends to avoid problems."

The city government has established a big data center, so far the only city-level data center nationwide, to collect data, including those about economy and environment, from surveillance cameras, various sensors and other devices such as drones.

By analyzing both historical and real-time data, the center can give pre-warnings before natural disasters and public emergency events happen, he said.

At the same time, the government is using big data analysis to find those sectors where problems often happen to intensify supervision of them.

Guo added that the government is building a "cloud of enterprises" - a mechanism that offers many services, including financing, human resources and IT, to small companies that do not have these departments.

"It will save cost for the companies as they do not have to set up those departments, and will create a new service economy," said the vice-mayor. "More importantly, it will help the government acquire precise economic data."

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(China Daily 09/07/2016 page10)