Dapeng New District Investment Holdings said Wednesday it will cut over 11 million yuan (US$1.73 million) in rent for small and micro-sized enterprises based in the New District’s two industrial parks in a bid to support businesses affected by COVID-19.

Employees of Meierjian Biotechnology in Dapeng New District test their products. Zhang Yan

Small and micro-sized enterprises and individual businesses located in the Marine Bio-Industry Park and Life Science Industrial Park can be exempted from three months’ rent and enjoy a 50% rent reduction for another three months, said Gu Rui, deputy manager of Dapeng New District Investment Holdings, adding that the support will be given directly to qualified companies with no applications and materials required.

The two industrial parks are part of the Shenzhen International Bio-Valley, a pioneering area for precision medicine.

Meierjian Biotechnology, a company based in the Life Science Industrial Park, started to expand its office area from 1,400 square meters to over 3,000 square meters in the second half of last year.

“The monthly rent for the 3,000-square-meter office costs over 100,000 yuan. The new policy can help us reduce a huge cost,” Xia Jingwen, deputy manager of Meierjian Biotechnology, was quoted as telling Shenzhen Economic Daily.

Another company named Zhongke Tonghui Technology said the measure can help save over 400,000 yuan in rent, which is indeed a timely help.

In another development, Futian District recently announced that its tech companies can gain up to 2 million yuan for offering anti-pandemic services and equipment support, in addition to rent reductions.

The final subsidy amount will be based on 50% of the real input, capped at 2 million yuan.

A total of 2.87 million yuan will be given to the first batch of qualified companies, according to the district’s science, technology and innovation bureau.

Liu Nianqiu, co-founder of DeepRoute.ai, told the Daily that there are no worries for the company after learning about the policy.

The company sent two driverless cars to help transport goods in Shatou Subdistrict. As of now, the two vehicles have sent over 16,000 boxes of goods weighing nearly 1,000 tons.