Shanghai is advancing its measures to strengthen the business environment, People’s Daily reports.

The efforts Shanghai has dedicated towards its business climate have attracted foreign investors. A notable example was Tesla’s first overseas Gigafactory opening in Shanghai’s Lingang Area on Jan 7th, solely six months after the company signed an agreement with the Shanghai municipal government to build the production base.

Additionally, a briefing on the city’s business development hosted on March 5th revealed that in the first month of 2019, the number of new foreign-funded projects grew by 69.1%, while contractual FDI increased 197.6% and the actual foreign capital utilisation of Shanghai by 33.5%.

This significant growth suggests foreign investors still deem Shanghai an attractive location, which is aided by the business environment reform promoted by the metropolis.

Shanghai’s newly-introduced mechanism, which allows 90% of enterprise approvals to be completed at one go, has decreased service procedures by 30.5%. Power access efficiency has also been improved upon in the city, enabling cost-free approval procedures.

The World Bank Group’s Business Environment team has strongly complimented Shanghai’s efforts, with an official even naming the reform a role model for the rest of the world. The team described the approaches of Shanghai’s measures as having brought new ideas and enlightenment to the World Bank.

Shanghai’s business environment is also expected to advance further in 2019. Some of the improvements set for the year are the ability to register administrative formalities through an e-government platform and a simplified procedure of setting up a company in the city – with the process required having decreased from four procedures over the course of nine days, to three procedures in three to five days.

Additionally, the number of procedures needed to obtain a construction license will drop from 19 to 14, while the general tax level will fall to around 65%.