Liang Yiwen/ Shanghai Daily news

Residents will one day be able to use the Internet to fill out government applications and apply for permits, a government official said on Friday.

From next year, Websites will be set up for administrative examination and approval throughout the city, the official told the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Shanghai Committee.

The measure is expected to reduce the time locals have to spend on administrative application procedures, officials told Shanghai CPPCC members, who were on their annual visit to study the city's development.

The government has set up administrative service centers in the city's 18 districts and one county.

These are one-stop shops for residents to make administrative applications, such as apply for building permits or restaurant licenses.

These are vastly more convenient for residents and will improve government efficiency, according to Huang Jianping, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Shanghai Discipline Inspection Commission.

The delegation visited the Pudong Citizen Center yesterday and learnt that locals can now handle more than 300 such administrative applications at that one center. Before, those 300 applications were covered by 20 government bureaus in 47 different locations.

"The administrative service center saved locals lots of time by assembling all the administrative application departments in one building," Huang said.

But the online platform will further contribute to save people's time and improve efficiency as people can finish applications at home.

"It will also reduce traffic and save energy as people won't have to drive here and there to handle the administrative applications," he said.

Meanwhile, the government will also work hard to cut its administrative fees in the future.

The city government has cut administrative fees on 148 items this year, which could save locals anything up to 2 billion yuan (US$293 million), according to Huang.