Hohhot, capital city of North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Hohhot, capital city of North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, has been making good progress in its quest to develop itself into a smart city, according to local media reports.

To facilitate smart city development, Hohhot has compiled the 'Top-Level Design Plan for New Smart City in Hohhot', which draws a blueprint for the promotion of intelligent upgrades in all areas of society.

Learning from the development plans of the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, and coordinating both local and national resources, the Hohhot-Baotou-Ordos-Wuhai Smart City Group Integrated Construction Action Plan was also released, focusing on the integration of various systems such as planning, education, medical care, and transportation.

Measures have been taken in strengthening data and information security, including promoting the upgrading of the e-government platform, and carrying out the relocation of the government affairs network's core switching equipment. 

Hohhot plans to invest 9 billion yuan ($1.34 billion) to build a smart city in Saihan district. [Photo/saihan.gov.cn]

In addition, in order to fully implement "internet-plus" government services, Hohhot big data administration has taken steps to promote the integration of government data resources, and accelerate the interconnection of government information systems with public data sharing.

According to statistics released by the Hohhot administrative examination and approval bureau, since the beginning of 2020, 94.4 percent of city-level affairs were processed and completed online, and 88.2 percent of the affairs at banner, county and district level were processed and completed online.

Since 2020, there has been a cumulative reduction of 393 procedures and 616 requirements for examination and approval matters, shortening processing times by 76 percent.