Xi Yanchun:
Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to the State Council policy briefing. One of the important issues discussed at this week’s executive meeting was further simplifying approval for investment projects. This is an important part of administration streamlining and power delegation. It can also help create a better investment environment.
To help you better understand the situation, today we’re glad to invite Mr Xu Kunlin, deputy secretary-general of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), and Mr Luo Guosan, deputy director-general of the investment department of NDRC. They will introduce the topic and answer your questions.
This work also involves some ministries of the State Council. Today we also invited officials from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Water Resources. They are sitting in the front rows. If the questions you raise involve them, they can also answer your questions. Next, let’s invite Mr Xu.
Xu Kunlin:
Ladies and gentlemen, friends from the press, good morning. I’m glad to attend today’s policy briefing. First, I want to introduce the recent developments in regulating investment project approvals.
At the executive meeting held on May 11, it was decided to further streamline administration, optimize services, and further simplify investment project approvals to reduce costs and stimulate the vitality of private investments.
Regulating investment project approvals is an important measure for promoting investment and maintaining stable economic growth. According to the deployment document released by the State Council, NDRC and related ministries researched and proposed a regulation plan. The plan reduced related approval items from 65 to 42, among which, 24 items involving planning permission and municipal facility construction are combined into eight items. Approval items about environment protection are preserved.
Next, related departments should publish their own lists for approval items. Management levels should be decided accordingly; procedures be further improved; application document be simplified, and processing time be strictly limited. Meanwhile, measures to provide convenience for the public should be improved. The process should be contained in governmental service halls or online platforms.
My colleague and I, and related officials from various ministries, will answer your questions.
Xi Yanchun:
Thank you. Mr Xu. Now questions please.
China Daily:
I want to know which investment fields will be the key areas for administrative streamlining in the future? Thanks.
Xu Kunlin
In recent years, the NDRC, together with related departments, continue to streamline governance and delegate power, including pushing forward the reform of simplifying items for administrative approval in the investment sector. The catalogue for approval was revised in 2013 and 2014, to simplify the approval procedure for enterprises. And the approval items were reduced by 50 percent in 2013 and 2014, down from 248 to 126. The approval items continued to be reduced, to only 62 in 2015, another 50 percent decrease. Simplified procedures for investment projects further unleashed market vitality and creativity and increased efficiency and reduced trading costs. It also created a better environment for stepping up social reform for local enterprises.
For reserved approval items, we strive to simplify the pre-check qualification procedures. Only 20 offices that deal with the pre-check qualification procedure were kept by the NDRC. It contained 50 pre-check qualification items before, and then it was reduced to 32. And now the 32 items have been reduced to just two and a half items, with only site selection and land use for a few important projects requiring pre-approval.
Next, we will carry out the decision made by the State Council to further streamline administration, delegate power and optimize services and clear all obstacles for the nurturing of new growth drivers and development of new economies. First, we will further deepen the reform of delegation power. This year, we will revise the approval catalogue and release a 2016 edition to further delegate the investment approval power. The further removal of approval items will be applied to the reform package made by the central government on the budget for the approval system. Second, we will strengthen the government’s regulation to push forward a coordinated supervision and constructive legal system, improving the grass-roots’ ability to exercise delegated power. Third, we will improve our services. We need to standardize and integrate the online supervision platform for investment project approvals, major project database and three-year investment plan by government, turning the approval procedure into a service.
That’s all. Thank you.
China Radio International
Could you share your thoughts on simplifying the administrative approval items required for investment projects?
Xu Kunlin
This is a good question.
The construction report of investment projects is determined by related departments and units according to rules after the application for the construction project is approved.
Two major factors involved in the procedure are time period and main participants involved in the project.
First, time period means the application has to be done after the approval and examination for the project and before construction begins. It differs from pre-check qualification items and the procedures for construction completed. Second, the main participants involved should be listed by the project enterprise in the application for administrative approvals and examination. It differs from any internal procedures that are intended to acquire general information between administrative organizations or enforced assessment by agencies authorized by the project enterprises.
Xu Kunlin
The construction report of investment projects is a key link from the project planning to construction, so the report is necessary for scientific planning and construction.
At the same time, amount of approval items, the duration of approvals and government’s work efficiency also are key to whether the investment projects will achieve its effectiveness and whether the investment funds will achieve actual results. Therefore, regulating and clearing the approval items for investment projects is not only an important part of promoting supply-side structural reform, streamlining administrative approvals, delegating powers and improving services, reducing approval items and systematic costs and relieving burdens for enterprises, but also an important part before the start of project construction. It is an important measure for promoting investment and stabilizing growth, and also has huge significance for promoting administrative reform, increasing administrative efficiency and expanding effective investments.
China National Radio:
I would like to raise a question about the standards for cutting down and retaining of the items.
Luo Guosan:
I would like to answer your question. We did a thorough clean-up of the items for construction application and approval, which entails 20 departments and 65 administrative approval items. Thirty-four items were kept, and 24 items were merged into eight, so the number comes to 42 after the overhaul. Two other items were inter-departmental, and five others were compulsory, so they were excluded from the clean-up list.
The second is integration. We integrated 24 items into eight, which is the key point of the clean-up. The next-step work requires “one window for enterprises’ project application”. It will genuinely reduce enterprises’ burden, because after the application, departments concerned will complete almost all the approval procedures, and the enterprises need not make more visits to get things done.
Meanwhile, we also ask for “one window for enterprises’ project approval”, aimed at enhancing efficiency, easing enterprises’ burden and cutting down on institutional costs, which is also an innovation of the system.
Furthermore, since compulsory assessment and appraisal are not classified as items for construction application and approval, related departments should refine standards and step up supervision to put the safety measures in place, which involves pre-assessment of occupational hazards, safety facilities, seismic safety and seismic hazards, and the report on climatic feasibility, with the responsibilities falling to governmental supervision departments.
Third, for the remaining items, all departments are urged to further optimize procedures, clarify the processing flow and time limits, and to turn the administrative review and approval into a service.
Xu Kunlin:
I would like to add that there are three principles we have to stick to.
First, any item lacking a legal basis or excluded from the State Council list should be canceled. Second, items that would pass the related departments’ approval or would be well-supervised should be canceled. Third, the reserved items are expected to be integrated in an efficient way within every department.
For instance, the regulatory platform for examination and approval of investment projects, set up by the National Development and Reform Commission, combined with 16 other departments, presents only one window to the outside, and the information on processing can be shared with the 16 departments at the same time. For this reason, government and enterprises can save time and enhance efficiency, which also results in cost reductions.
Reuters:
Media reports said this week that 600 billion yuan will be collected in the third batch of projects through the public-private partnership (PPP) financing mode. Is this figure correct? If yes, when will the PPP projects be published?
Xu Kunlin:
PPP is an important measure to promote reform of the investment and financing system, and create conditions for private investment. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and other departments are making great efforts to promote these projects. NDRC has launched two batches of PPP projects, which yielded good results. The contract signing rate reached over 30 percent. We have recently carried out some work such as arranging some expenses for supporting projects in local areas. The third batch of PPP projects will be launched soon, and the investment amount may be greater than this figure. It also provides a platform for enterprises to communicate with local governments.
For the next step, we will improve related laws and regulations, strengthen training of local officials, and enhance theoretical research to promote the projects.
Xinhua:
I would like to ask Mr Xu, according to what principle do you standardize the approvals for construction of investment projects?
Xu Kunlin:
Basically, it’s the three principles that I mentioned just now. First, approvals will be canceled for projects without legal grounds; second, approvals will also be canceled if those items can be solved through soliciting opinions; third, procedures will be streamlined for the remaining approval items.
China News Service:
What approval items for investment projects will the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development streamline, and what influence will it bring to the industry?
Liu Xin:
Thanks for your question. The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development will streamline 16 approval items for investment projects. Five items will be kept, and 11 items concerning management will be consolidated into four items regarding urban landscape, municipal infrastructure, urban water supply and drainage, and urban-rural planning management. Thus, the 16 items will be reduced to nine. Thank you.
Xinhua News Agency:
We have also seen that growth in private investments in the first quarter slowed. The State Council is to carry out inspections on this. What specific measures will the National Development and Reform Commission undertake to spur and stabilize private investments? Thanks.
Xu Kunlin:
Private investment accounts for 62 percent of overall investments. Private investment’s growth rate declined to 5.7 percent in the first quarter, compared to the 10.7 percent growth rate of total investment in fixed assets. Growth in private investment was usually slightly higher than overall investment. Hence, the proportion of private investment to total investment grew from 2013 to 2015, reaching a peak of 64 percent.
Regarding this, the Central Committee of the CPC and State Council have taken a series of measures, including arrangements made at the recent executive meeting of the State Council. Prior to that, the State Council introduced “36 rules on non-public economy” in 2005, “36 rules on private investment”, and “39 rules to encourage social investment” in 2014. Related policies are comprehensive. In particular, in 2012 more than 40 government departments formulated 42 specific measures to implement the policies. Why did growth in private investment slow? The reasons are rather complex, including market factors, ineffective implementation of policies, as well as the inadequate adaptability of private enterprises to new situations.
The National Development and Reform Commission is also prepared to take some measures. Specifically in several aspects: implementing policies and measures that have been introduced. The State Council is to carry out inspections, and the inspection team will begin to work around May 20. In addition, market entry should be greatly promoted. Nowadays, private enterprises are also facing issues of “no door”, which means no one accepts and handles their requests. Meanwhile, private enterprises also have difficulty in raising funds. Special funds are being tested by injecting a certain amount of capital into policy guarantee companies to allow them to provide guarantee and credit for private, small and micro enterprises. The enterprises can then get loans from commercial banks as well as funds for investment. Many measures of this kind have been adopted. We hope these measures can stabilize and promote private investment. Thank you.
Xi Yanchun:
That is the end of the briefing today. Thank you, speakers. Thank you, everyone.
