The Ministry of Water Resources ("MWR") has recently issued the Measures for the Assessment of Administration of Water Conservancy Projects (the "Measures") and the assessment criteria, which have taken effect immediately from the date of issuance.
Encompassing 20 articles, the Measures touch upon assessment targets, water conservancy projects covered by the assessment, principles for assessing the administration, etc. Among others, the Measures provide that, the assessment of administration of water conservancy projects is comprised of two parts, namely the annual self-inspections performed by units administering water conservancy projects and the annual assessment conducted by the superior administrative departments of water, adding that where the assessment results indicate the satisfaction of the acceptance criteria announced by the MWR, the unit concerned may apply, on a voluntary basis, to the MWR for an acceptance inspection. Passing the acceptance inspection of the MWR requires that the overall score earned in the assessment shall reach 920 points or above and the score earned for each category of assessment items shall not be lower than 85% of the total points allocated to such category. In addition, the Measures clearly state that, an application for an acceptance inspection by the MWR requires the fulfillment of six requirements, among which are "completing the water administration system reform and passing the acceptance inspection", "managing to pass the completion acceptance inspection over the project", "having the operating rules for the water reservoir and the emergency response plan on safety management of dams approved by the authorities concerned" and "having defined the scope of administration and of protection for the project".