SEZ aims to be 5 times bigger

The Shenzhen government has drawn up a blueprint to expand the country's first special economic zone (SEZ) to the whole city - as a restructuring strategy to increase its competitiveness amid the economic downturn.

"Legislators are working on the proposal to expand the scope of Shenzhen SEZ to the whole city, but it needs the approval of the State Council," an official with the legislative affairs office of the Shenzhen People's Congress, who did not want to be identified, told China Daily yesterday.

Earlier this month, the State Council added the city to the list of two more areas to pilot comprehensive reforms. But "important reforms regarding the scope of the SEZ, land and finance should get approval case by case," the document specifies.