BEIJING, May 18 (Xinhua) -- The State Council, China's cabinet, has issued a circular detailing a pilot reform program for cutting the approval time for starting construction projects to improve the business environment and cut red tape.

The pilot plan will cover the cities of Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing, Shenyang, Dalian, Nanjing, Xiamen, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Guiyang, Weinan, and Yan'an, as well as Zhejiang province.

In 2018, the approval time for starting construction projects will be cut by half. The reform will be expanded nationwide in 2019 with the approval time to be reduced to 120 working days.

By 2020, a national approval and management system for construction projects will be basically completed.

The plan asked authorities to cancel illegal, unreasonable, and unnecessary approval procedures and give departments at lower levels more decision-making power.

The pace of the reform to cut red tape in China has been fast during the past five years. World Bank data have seen China's ranking improve 18 places for "ease of doing business" in the past five years, and 65 places for "ease of setting up a business."