Chinese authorities have issued orders to halt the development of new theme parks. The sector has been enjoying a boom in recent years.

The new guidelines were issued by the central planning department, the National Development and Reform Commission. It said that large parks, involving over USD 235 million of project spend, would come in for special scrutiny.

The move appears to have two targets, the build-up of debt by provincial and city governments, many of which have been on a decade-long spending drive; and housing and office projects that are disguised as theme parks or similar cultural facilities.

“In the development of theme parks we’ve seen unclear concepts, blind construction, imitations and plagiarism, low-standard duplication and other issues,” the NDRC said, adding in some areas “local debt risks” were emerging.

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