In the past five years, the Ecological Environment Bureau of Yangpu District closely followed the pace of One Net for All reform, which was orderly to promote various government services. By merging the environmental impact evaluation with pollutant discharge permit, it achieves the integration of regulatory matters, and further links pollutant discharge permit and environmental impact evaluation regulations. The Ecological Environment Bureau of Yangpu District will continue to focus on the needs of businesses, continue to do a good job in reducing procedures, time and in optimizing processes, so as to provide more standard and convenient government services for businesses, and help promote high-quality development of the regional economy.

Reform and Innovations to Fulfill Two in One

The Yangpu District Ecological Environment Bureau is active to promote the reform and innovation of integrating environmental impact evaluation approval and pollutant discharge permit in accordance with the Notice of the Shanghai Municipal Ecological Environment Bureau on the Merging of Pollutant Discharge Permit and Environmental Impact Evaluation and the Key Points of the 2023 Yangpu District in One Net for All Reform. In July of this year, the two administrative issues, namely,the environmental impact evaluation and pollutant discharge permit, were successfully completed with “one set of materials, one acceptance, synchronous approval, and completion at once”. The joint review model allows businesses to complete two government issues in one go, greatly reducing their operational costs.

Recently, the Ecological Environment Bureau of Yangpu District also issued the approval opinions and pollutant discharge permit for the environmental impact evaluation report of the engine technology renovation project of Shanghai New Power Automotive Technology Co., Ltd. Compared to separate handling before, this move has saved at least 20 working days for businesses and the public, serving the corporate projects with faster speed and higher efficiency, and has won praise from businesses.

It is reported that this is also the first case of the merging of environmental impact evaluation and pollutant discharge permit in the downtown area. The completion of this project marks the genuine merging of the environmental impact evaluation and the pollution discharge permit in Yangpu District, and new progress has been made in deepening the reform and innovation of the One Net for All and improving the services provided for businesses and the public.

Optimize to Adapt to Changes and Rebuild Approval Procedure

The combination of environmental impact evaluation approval and pollutant discharge permit has changed the original approval form of construction projects from “series” to “parallel”. Entities discharging pollutants can simultaneously apply for both environmental impact evaluation approval and pollution discharge permit, achieving “simultaneous acceptance and completion”. These entities can submit the application materials for pollutant discharge permits together with the application for environmental impact evaluation approval through the One Net for All platform. After receiving the application, the approval authority will conduct a formal review of the application materials and make a decision on acceptance in accordance with regulations. After acceptance, the approval authority shall simultaneously review the environmental impact evaluation documents and the application materials for the pollutant discharge permit, organize the technical evaluation of the environmental impact evaluation documents and the pollutant discharge permit, and make a decision on the approval of the evaluation and the issuance of the pollutant discharge permit within the promised time limit.

Improve Quality and Efficiency by Reducing Application Materials

The acceptance, technical evaluation, and review stages of the merging of environmental impact evaluation approval and pollutant discharge permit have all achieved full online processing, with zero travel by businesses and the public. At the same time, the business continues to simplify and reduce application materials, merge common materials, reduce duplicate submissions, and integrate the two sets of application materials required for separate processing into one set of application materials, forming a “list of two in one”, achieving two approvals for “one form application”. When applying for a change or reapplication for a pollutant discharge permit, license holders are exempt from submitting approved construction project environmental impact evaluation documents and approval opinions, self monitoring plans, and emission outlet standard instructions.

One-step Forward Service to Squeeze Approval Limit

In addition, the “two in one” service model of environmental impact evaluation approval and pollutant discharge permit also reduces the time for acceptance, review, and evaluation, allowing for the maximum reduction of approval time. In the new mode, the acceptance time limit has been reduced from the original five working days to three working days, the approval time limit for report items has been squeezed from about 45 working days to 15 working days, and the approval time limit for report items has been reduced from about 27 working days to seven working days.

Not only that, this model also squeezes the internal signature process and technical evaluation process, fully utilizing the environmental impact evaluation public notice period to carry out technical evaluation. Under the effect of this mode, the public and the business get the greatest convenience in handling affairs, and the projects are also accelerated to be implemented.

Make Innovations to Integrate Supervision Items

In response to the supervision of construction projects that have already implemented the “two in one” service of environmental impact evaluation approval and pollutant discharge permit, the Yangpu District Ecological Environment Bureau has been innovative to integrate in-process and post permit supervision with pollutant discharge permit supervision, promoting comprehensive supervision. The integration of data related to the completion acceptance report of environmental protection facilities for construction projects and the execution report of pollutant discharge permits. The self monitoring data of permits that meet the conditions after obtaining the permit can be shared with the monitoring data of environmental protection acceptance for related construction projects, without the need for separate monitoring.

In addition, the operation status and actual emissions of pollution control facilities in the execution report can also serve as the basis for preparing the completion environmental protection acceptance report.

For the past five years, Yangpu District has always adhered to the reform concept of “serving the people in the city”, and has always regarded the expectations of businesses and the public as the goal and direction of the One Net for All reform. The next issue will bring about the achievements of Wujiaochang Sub-district in Yangpu District, allowing us to have a more detailed understanding of the changes in government services in Yangpu.