Four departments including the Ministry of Finance ("MOF") have recently issued the Circular on Strengthening Management of Ecological and Environmental Protection Funds and Facilitating the Establishment of the Project Reserve System (the "Circular"), immediately effective from the date of issuance.
The Circular proposes losing no time in establishing the system of the central pool of reserve projects subsidized by ecological and environmental protection funds, stating that the four departments should be in charge of instituting, managing and improving the system of the central pool of reserve projects subsidized by ecological and environmental protection funds. The relevant systems should be further improved, if the pool of reserve projects has been formed; otherwise, the pool should take shape as quickly as possible. In addition, the Circular makes it clear that the management of the central pool of reserve projects aided by ecological and environmental protection funds shall be tightened, stating that the funding budget for concrete workload generated by the following transfer payments from the central finance, including the funding for prevention and control of air, water and soil pollution, the funding for cleanup of rural environment, the funding for marine ecology conservation and restoration, the funding for key ecology conservation and restoration, the funding for forestry and grassland ecology conservation and restoration, and the funding for forestry reform and development, will be all managed under the central pool of reserve projects. The Circular also requires that the relevant departments shall prepare and release, for their respective business area, the guide to entry in the central pool of reserve projects subsidized by ecological and environmental protection funds, within one month after the Circular is issued.