Lately, the General Office of the State Council has issued the Guiding Opinions for Innovating the Investment and Financing System and Mechanism for Rural Infrastructure (the "Opinions").
The Opinions state that a robust investment and financing system with a variety of subjects will basically take shape by 2020, and the market operation as well as a professional and efficient establishment and management mechanism will come into being step by step, with dramatically enhanced integration level in establishment and management of urban and rural infrastructure, obviously improved conditions for rural infrastructure and further enhanced sense of achievement of vast farmers in sharing together the fruits of reform and development. To this end, the Opinions ascertain three major tasks, including "constructing a diversified and new pattern for investment and financing and improving the long-term mechanism for investment". Also, the Opinions set out that efforts shall be made to innovate ways for government to support investment and adopt direct investment, investment subsidies, capital infusion, financial interest discount, replacement of subsidies with rewards and other methods to support the construction of rural infrastructure. In the meanwhile, efforts shall also be made to give larger financial support, encourage commercial banks to grant more credit and lend more loans for rural infrastructure, better rural financial services, and support banking financial institutions to engage in pledge loans with the rights to charge and the franchise rights and other secured innovative loan business.