The National Development and Reform Commission ("NDRC") has recently revised and issued the Interim Measures for the Administration of Special Central Budgetary Investment Funds for Green Development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt (the "Measures"), which will come into force as of the date of issuance and be effective until December 31, 2022.
The Measures stipulate that the special funds will be dedicated for investment projects in 11 provinces and municipalities directly under the Central Government, including Shanghai Municipality and Jiangsu Province, and that in principle, merely eight provinces and municipalities directly under the Central Government in central and western China and regions enjoying policies for central and western China may have access to the special funds. The amount of investment funds for projects within the central budget shall be assessed on a one-time basis in principle, and a project that has been funded in full is disallowed to file an application again for such funds. Meanwhile, the special funds will be used to subsidize six types of projects, including "projects aimed at resolving prominent eco-environment issues", and may be allocated in three different ways, namely, directly to each targeted project, on a lump-sum basis to a group of projects, and on a consolidated basis to those undetermined projects. In addition, the Measures make clear the subsidy standard. For example, for projects aimed at resolving prominent eco-environment issues, "4+1" projects for cleaning up eco-environmental pollution in the Yangtze River and green development demonstration projects, subsidies will be capped at 45% and 60% of the gross investment of such projects respectively for the central and western regions.