Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission and other four departments have promulgated the Implementing Opinions on Further Encouraging and Expanding the Investment of Social Capital in the Construction of Railways (the "Opinions").
The Opinions define that it is required to fully open the rail investment and operation market, actively encourage social capital to comprehensively enter the field of railway and focus on encouraging social capital to be invested in the construction and operation of intercity railways, urban (suburb) railways, resource developmental railways and branch railways. The Opinions also define that it is required to promote the diversification of investment and financing mode, support the social capital to be invested in the construction and operation of railway by a variety of ways, such as sole proprietorship and joint venture and make railway ownership and management rights available to the social capital. In addition, the Opinions point out, where the railway projects invested by social capital conform to the provisions of the List of Public Infrastructure Projects Enjoying Enterprise Income Tax Preference, the enterprises shall be exempted from enterprise income tax in the first to the third years, and shall only pay half of enterprise income tax in the fourth to sixth years after the tax year in which the project obtains the first production and operation income.