China has released a budget for the first batch of projects to use funds raised through the additional 1 trillion yuan ($141 billion) of the sovereign bonds, which were announced in October to be issued in the fourth quarter, China Daily has learned from the Ministry of Finance.
Totaling 237.9 billion yuan, the budgeted amount was issued recently and will be allocated as subsidy funds to three areas — 107.5 billion yuan for post-disaster recovery and reconstruction and improvement of disaster prevention and reduction capability; 125.4 billion yuan for high-standard farmland construction in places including Northeast China and disaster-stricken areas in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region; and some 5 billion yuan for the construction of key comprehensive natural disaster prevention and control systems (meteorological infrastructure construction).
"To reduce pressure on local governments in allocating funds for applicable projects, the standards or proportions of the additional treasury bond-raised funds as subsidies in total funds for the projects have been raised in one move, with preferential support for central and western regions along with disaster-stricken areas," said a Ministry of Finance official.
The official said the ministry will issue the additional treasury bond budgets for other areas in batches after reviews of related projects.
"The ministry will join hands with other departments to thoroughly implement the decisions and will effectively regulate the use of related funds with strict standards, to ensure the delivery of good results."
According to relevant laws and regulations, provincial-level governments are required to issue budgets to lower-level governments within seven days of the issuance of the central government budget.
In addition, local governments are required to disburse any additional bond-raised funds in a timely manner according to the implementation progress of relevant projects, and are not permitted to misappropriate them for other expenditures irrelevant to intended projects.
Local governments must not spend allocated funds in a rush at the close of a calendar year. They must also not spend them on projects that are prohibited for the use of such monies, such as office buildings, auditoriums, hotels, guest houses and image-boosting projects — or for purely commercial purposes — in order to strictly prevent local governments from taking on new hidden debt.
The issued budget of 107.5 billion yuan for post-disaster recovery and reconstruction and improvement of disaster prevention and reduction capability will be allocated to support a total of 1,508 projects in 12 provincial-level areas, including in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.
A key component of the projects will be the post-disaster recovery and reconstruction of educational and medical institutions such as schools and hospitals, as well as those in transportation, water conservancy and other infrastructure, to help people in disaster-hit areas rebuild their locales.
Meanwhile, the projects also include those related to risk management and reinforcement of reservoirs, river management and meteorological monitoring in order to help relevant areas better cope with extreme weather, further improve disaster prevention and reduction capability, and promote long-term regional peace and stability.
The 125.4 billion yuan for high-standard farmland construction and improvement will cover new construction, improvement or restoration of 54 million mu (3.6 million hectares) of farmland in 1,336 counties nationwide.
Around 54 percent of the funds will be allocated to Northeast China and disaster-stricken areas in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.
The 13 main grain-producing provinces account for 42.02 million mu of farmland covered, or 78 percent of the total. Funds to be allocated to them stand at 98.4 billion yuan, or 79 percent of the total.
The funds will also cover all 2.483 million mu of farmland damaged by disasters as reported by provinces to support their recovery in a timely fashion.
