Full text: Report on China's economic, social development plan
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E-mail Xinhua, March 18, 2016
Fourth, we will improve the consumption environment. We will improve the level of standardization in all industries and improve the mechanism for protecting consumers' rights and interests. We will launch campaigns to improve the supply of consumer goods, and introduce a system of punitive damages against producers whose products do not meet quality standards. We will improve policies related to tariffs on consumer goods. We will implement the food safety strategy, and establish sound systems for food safety standards and for ensuring product traceability. We will improve drug quality. We will tighten oversight of prices and step up efforts to counter monopolistic pricing to safeguard fair market competition.
2) We will strengthen points of weakness, adjust the economic structure, and improve the performance of investment. While ensuring investment in key areas and for weak links, we will innovate the way in which government-managed funds are used, and use central government budgetary investment and special development funds to attract more investment from non-governmental sources. We will also intensify efforts to shore up weak spots and increase effective investment. Total fixed-asset investment is projected to increase by around 10.5% in 2016.
First, we will further improve the use of budgetary investment. Appropriation for investment in the central government budget this year is planned to be 500 billion yuan. This investment will mainly go toward government-subsidized housing; grain production and water conservancy; railway construction in the central and western regions; scientific and technological innovation; energy conservation, environmental protection, and ecological improvement; education, health, culture, and other social programs; as well as toward the development of old revolutionary base areas, ethnic minority areas, border areas, and poor areas.
Second, we will give full play to the leading role of special development funds. An appropriate amount of capital will be raised in a market-based manner for special development funds on a quarterly basis. We will encourage nongovernmental capital to increase in step with government development funds, so that government investment and credit funds can produce positive results together. Corporate bonds issuance will be expanded and the issuance of new-type corporate bonds will be encouraged, such as those for developing urban utility tunnels, parking lots, strategic emerging industries, and elderly care services, for building and upgrading power distribution grids, for supporting entrepreneurship and innovation incubators, and for launching eco-friendly initiatives.
Third, we will develop an investment plan on a rolling three-year basis. We will build up the number of government investment projects in reserve so that rolling groups of projects can be approved, launched, and completed one after another; such a continuous, rolling reserve mechanism will help to maintain a beneficial cycle of government investment.
Fourth, we will work to stimulate nongovernmental investment. We will make overall arrangements for investment funds from the central government budget and special development funds, giving priority to developing PPP projects that are in line with government criteria. We will also further relax restrictions on market access to open up more channels for private investment. The formulation of the regulations on government investment, the regulations on franchising of infrastructure and public utilities, and the regulations concerning the management of investment projects that are subject to government review and reporting will all be accelerated.
Fifth, we will strengthen major construction projects in key areas and areas of weakness. We will increase efforts to press ahead with the key projects in the 13th Five-Year Plan as well as other major projects, such as those to reduce poverty; rebuild run-down areas; upgrade rural power grids and urban power distribution grids; develop major water conservancy projects, railways, highways, and urban rail transit facilities; control water pollution in key water basins; and promote technological upgrading in enterprises. Construction will begin on 20 major water conservancy projects. We will launch major strategic projects including the 100-200-300 Transportation Program, the project to develop wind and photovoltaic power bases in northwestern China, and the project to promote military-civilian integration. We will strengthen management in relation to investments and tighten the supervision and inspection of projects.
Box 14: The 100-200-300 Transportation Program
3. Channeling more effort into reforms in major areas and in relation to key issues
To ensure that market vitality remains constant, we will promptly introduce a range of measures aimed at leading reform efforts and put more focus on the efficiency of institutional supply.
1) We will intensify efforts to streamline administration, delegate more powers, improving regulation, and provide better services. We will continue to delegate the power of or cancel the requirement for government review on more items and ensure that the delegation of powers is better coordinated. We will make the lists of all local governments' powers and responsibilities available to the public, carry out trials for compiling lists of powers and responsibilities of departments under the State Council, and begin trials to use a negative list for market access in certain regions. We will press ahead with coordinated law enforcement and oversight using big data, and coordinate oversight through market, credit, and legal measures. We will move faster to set up a credit rating system, expand the scope and services of the platform for sharing information on credit nationwide, and strengthen the mechanism to give joint incentives to those who act in good faith and to take joint punitive actions against those who act in bad faith. We will implement a national unified system of credit rating codes; press ahead with the reform to replace the separate business license, organization code certificate, and taxation registration certificate with a unified business license with a unified social credit code; and conduct trials to separate operating permits and business licenses. We will speed up the reform of making the trade of public resources more market-based, and establish a unified trading platform by integrating existing ones. We will improve the way in which the government provides public services, expand Internet Plus government services, promote better information sharing between government departments, and move faster to standardize government review and approval. We will ensure a unified registration system for immovable property is implemented at community level.
2) We will deepen reform of the investment and financing systems. We will make innovations in investment management and create new mechanisms for investment and financing; further streamline investment approval procedures; reduce, combine, and regulate the items required for a construction project when applying for government approval; improve the online platform for reviewing, approving, and monitoring investment projects; and put in place a new system for carrying out the combined review and approval of investment projects for enterprises. We will improve the mechanism for facilitating cooperation between the government, banks, enterprises, and nongovernmental investors, and promote application of PPP models such as franchise operations to encourage nongovernmental capital's participation in the development and operation of major government projects.
3) We will deepen reform of prices. We will work to lift pricing controls over competitive areas in the power, petroleum, natural gas, and transportation industries. We will extend to more areas the trial price reform for electricity transmission and distribution, and improve the policy for adjusting prices for electricity generated by environmentally friendly facilities. We will improve the pricing mechanism for refined oil products. We will steadily advance reform of medical service prices. Comprehensive reform of the pricing for water used in agriculture will be carried out. We will establish sound rules for market prices, strengthen price oversight, and safeguard order in relation to prices and fees.
