Regulations on Managing Subsidies for Building Modern Agro-Industrial Parks in Nansha District

Normative Document No 1 [2023] of Nansha District Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau of Guangzhou Municipality 

Notice by Nansha District Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Guangzhou Municipality and Nansha District Bureau of Finance of Guangzhou Municipality on Issuing the Regulations on Managing Subsidies for Building Modern Agro-Industrial Parks in Nansha District

All relevant parties,

The Regulations on Managing Subsidies for Building Modern Agro-Industrial Parks in Nansha District have been approved by Nansha district people's government and are hereby issued to you for your compliance and implementation. Problems encountered in the implementation should be directly reported to Nansha district bureau of agriculture and rural affairs of Guangzhou municipality.

Nansha district bureau of agriculture and rural affairs of Guangzhou municipality

Nansha district bureau of finance of Guangzhou municipality

March 29, 2023

Regulations on Managing Subsidies for Building Modern Agro-Industrial Parks in Nansha District

Chapter I General provisions

Article 1 As part of the efforts to accelerate the building of modern agro-industrial parks in Nansha, build Nansha into a modern agricultural development pilot zone and pilot free trade zone with high starting points and high standards, and revitalize rural industries, according to relevant decisions and arrangements of the Central Government, the outline development plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and relevant requirements proposed by the CPC Guangzhou municipal committee and the people's government of Guangzhou municipality in implementing the rural vitalization strategy, these regulations are formulated by referring to provincial and municipal regulations on using special subsidies in light of the realities of Nansha district.

Article 2 Modern agro-industrial parks refer to modern agro-industrial parks which have been approved by the People's Government of China and the People's Government of Guangdong Province.

Subsidies refer to government funds allocated by financial departments at all levels (including central, provincial, municipal and district levels) for building modern agro-industrial parks. District-level subsidies should be allocated by Nansha district bureau of finance of Guangzhou municipality.

The subject of responsibility refers to the Nansha district people's government (hereinafter referred to as the "district government"). The district government has set up the leading group for building modern agro-industrial parks in Nansha district (hereinafter referred to as the "leading group") to take charge of the building of modern agro-industrial parks in Nansha. The office of the leading group is located in Nansha district bureau of agriculture and rural affairs and should coordinate with the leading group in overall planning, coordination, guidance and supervision.

The entities refer to organizations undertaking projects for building modern agro-industrial parks, including agricultural enterprises, industrialization consortiums, farmers' specialized cooperatives, as well as operation subjects, industry associations and social groups of agricultural scientific research, technical promotion, brand promotion, or related to the agricultural industry.

Article 3 The entities should be the entities specified in the documents submitted in the "application for building" stage of modern agro-industrial parks at all levels, and the entities permitted to settle in modern agro-industrial parks by the office of the leading group.

When applying for subsidies, the entities should simultaneously meet the following conditions:

(I) The entities have legally incorporated within the territory of Nansha district, legally been included in Nansha's government statistics and managed by Nansha's tax authorities.

(II) They have sound financial systems, are independent legal entities and can  independently conduct accounting.

(III) Those are to build productive agricultural projects should own agricultural land in the industrial park with the remaining contractual years of land lease not less than two years (counted from the date when the industrial park project is approved; hereinafter, the same). When the entities are to use the construction land for their projects, the construction land should belongs to the entities, or the construction land has a lease term of no less than three years and notarized by a notary agency as proper construction land for the planned construction project.

Before the issuance of these regulations, construction and implementation projects to build modern agro-industrial parks within the administrative area of Nansha district with the approval of people's governments at all levels may be executed by referring to these Regulations if they fall into the use scope of subsidies herein.

Chapter II Fund use and application examination

Article 4 Subsidies may be granted in the form of interest discount, direct grant or "bonus in lieu of subsidy", which should be applied for at the choice of each implementation subject according to their actual needs.

Article 5 The entities should, according to the task scheme and fund use plan, independently use subsidies according to laws and regulations. The use scope of subsidies includes but is not limited to the specific matters listed below:

(I) Infrastructure, which mainly refers to infrastructure construction of road, land consolidation, as well as flood control, drainage, water supply, power supply, communications, network, environment and sanitation within modern agro-industrial parks.

(II) Production facilities, which mainly refer to greenhouses, agricultural product processing rooms, water-saving irrigation, water-fertilizer integration, livestock and poultry breeding, aquaculture, inspection and testing facilities and equipment.

(III) Land circulation, which mainly refers to rent subsidies for transferees who transfer land of 100 mu (7 hectares) and above for building modern agro-industrial parks, especially the core area.

(IV) Industrial integration, which mainly refers to the installation or upgrading of agricultural product production and processing equipment and facilities, storage, cold chain distribution and circulation facilities in modern agro-industrial parks, as well as supporting facilities for new industries and new business forms (sightseeing and leisure agriculture and agricultural products e-commerce).

(V) R&D and information support mainly refer to informatization, R&D and achievement transformation and expert team services. which mainly support public welfare projects and public information platforms (e-commerce included).

(VI) Agriculture branding, which mainly refers to promoting leading industrial and product brands of modern agro-industrial parks and building characteristic local public brands, including building, designing, registering and promoting agricultural brands and intellectual property rights, as well as organizing related exhibitions.

(VII) Loan with discounted interest: the entities which apply for a loan of more than 1 million yuan ($138,000) for the production and operation of leading industries will be granted a discount subsidy according to the loan prime rate (LPR) (or the actual interest rate if the actual interest rate is lower than LPR).

(VIII) Other projects approved by the leading group and eligible for other support policies of Nansha district may be granted the highest subsidy, but should not apply for subsidies for the same construction project again.

Subsidies should be used to give priority support to build public infrastructure, foster regional public brands, develop processing technology and series products, build logistics e-commerce platforms that benefit farmers, or leverage social capital investment. Public welfare projects may be fully subsidized.

Article 6 Subsidies should not be used for (1) construction of high-end buildings, archways, gate towers, pavilions, terraces, open halls, parking lots, street lamps and municipal roads; (2) business expenses (including daily costs, such as agricultural materials, raw materials of non-agricultural products, etc, salaries and social insurance expenses of employees, labor expenses of temporary personnel, and abnormal costs and expenses), debts of enterprises and other general expenses; (3) management expenses such as planning, research reports, project acceptance check, supervision, inspection, internal audit, performance management, consulting services, and business training; (4) agency service fees of intermediaries and other expenses unrelated to building agro-industrial parks.

In principle, relevant construction projects supported by other subsidies at the district level and above and inclusive policies (such as purchase subsidies for agricultural machinery, construction subsidies for high-standard farmland, construction subsidies for building, managing, protecting and operating rural roads well), should not enjoy government subsidies in these regulations.

Subsidies should be used in line with relevant control requirements of cultivated land. Using cultivated land for non-agricultural and non-grain purposes is strictly prohibited.

Article 7 Efforts will be made to encourage innovative fund allocation and give full play to the guiding and amplifying effect of government funds. In principle, subsidies for enterprises should drive more than three times social capital investment (counted based on the agro-industrial parks), and the agro-industrial parks that have been approved should follow the original regulations. Subsidies for public welfare infrastructure, public welfare information support, public service platforms, and regional public brands are not included in the calculation of guiding and amplifying effect.

Article 8 Leading entities should, under the guidance of relevant departments of Nansha district people's government, organize relevant entities for studying the actual situation of the agro-industrial parks and put forward fund use plans of the agro-industrial parks and their modification plans which should be reported to the leading group for approval according to the specified procedure, after referring to provincial and municipal management regulations and methods specified for relevant provincial modern agro-industrial parks, management regulations and methods specified for the use of Nansha's government funds, and follow the principle of focusing on priorities, addressing inadequacies, and shoring up points of weakness. Fund use plans should be implemented in strict accordance with approved fund use plans. Any new project, or reduction or increase in project amount during the implementation process should be reported to the leading group for approval separately according to the procedure.

Article 9 Each entity should, in strict accordance with approved fund use plans, formulate project implementation plans and independently carry out projects. If the implementing subject is a State-owned enterprise, the project should be carried out according to relevant provisions on the management of state assets. After the completion of the project, the entity should apply to the office of the leading group for acceptance check and allocation of subsidies. The office of the leading group should organize a cost and financial audit and acceptance check in time, and allocate subsidies.

Article 10 Subsidies should be allocated according to relevant provisions on centralized payment by the Ministry of Finance. Those involving government purchase and bidding should be allocated according to relevant regulations. If the entity is a State-owned enterprise, it should follow its management regulations. If the entity is a private enterprise, it should follow its internal control system.

Article 11 Nansha district bureau of agriculture and rural affairs should formulate corresponding support and development measures according to the actual needs of each agro-industrial park.

Chapter III Supervision, management and performance evaluation

Article 12 Subsidies should be arranged annually according to approved fund use plans. Leading entitys should formulate annual fund use plans scientifically and strictly implement them to ensure the reasonable use of government funds.

Article 13 Those who used and permitted using government funds should be held accountable. The subject of responsibility should fulfill its supervising obligation by tracking and supervising the use of construction funds by agro-industrial parks under its jurisdiction, following up on the use progress, and carrying out supervision and inspection. Verification should be conducted every 6 months. Nansha district bureau of finance should examine and allocate subsidies at all levels, and organize and conduct financial supervision and inspection. Each implementation subject should bear relevant responsibilities for the use and management of government funds.

Article 14 Nansha district bureau of agriculture and rural affairs should (1) guide the building of the agro-industrial parks; (2) apply for the allocation of subsidies according to relevant requirements of district budget plan, fund use plans of the agro-industrial parks, current construction progress of the agro-industrial parks and tasks and targets for the next year; (3) supervise and inspect the progress of project implementation and fund use, and organize self-evaluation of the construction and operation of the agro-industrial parks under its jurisdiction annually within the implementation period according to the performance target.

Article 15 Each implementation subject should (1) formulate project implementation plans and complete project construction tasks and relevant performance targets according to construction plans; (2) effectively strengthen financial management, cooperate with the subject of responsibility in information reporting, project acceptance check, performance self-evaluation, supervision and inspection.

Article 16 The supervision and inspection system.

(I) For projects for which entities have applied for subsidies, entities should create a project construction ledger with complete data for each project for later reference.

(II) All relevant entities should open special fund use accounts and report the fund use progress to leading entities for summary at the end of each quarter, while leading entities should report to the office of the leading group within five working days from the beginning of the new quarter.

(III) Nansha district bureau of agriculture and rural affairs and Nansha district bureau of finance should conduct a special inspection on the use of annual subsidies. In principle, a field inspection should be conducted once every six months, and the inspection result should be submitted to the office of the leading group.

(IV) In the process of implementing project budgets, Nansha district bureau of agriculture and rural affairs and Nansha district bureau of finance should guide those using government funds to track, manage, supervise and inspect the project implementation progress, the fund use progress, and the progress of realizing fund performance targets in a phased manner, timely adjust and reasonably control the project implementation progress and ensure that projects are implemented in a standardized manner and that expected performance targets will be realized.

(V) Nansha district bureau of agriculture and rural affairs should conduct a mid-term evaluation on the construction of the agro-industrial parks, fund use, allocation of construction land, leveraging social capital investment, and benefiting agriculture and farmers.

Article 17 The office of the leading group should urge project entities which have not started to implement their projects (including sub-projects) after obtaining government approval for six months or have not finished their projects after obtaining government approval for two years to start or complete their projects promptly. If they still gain no progress in their projects after being urged in writing, they should be reported to the leading group for approval to cancel such projects. Those parts that have been finished will not enjoy subsidies. And entities should return the subsidies that they have obtained.

Article 18 The entities who occupy, withhold or misappropriate subsidies and carry out agricultural production and operation activities that are against control regulations on the use of cultivated land should be disqualified as implementation subject of modern agro-industrial parks and return the subsidies they have received. Those who are disqualified as implementation subject cannot apply for any construction projects of the agro-industrial parks within three years.

Article 19 The entities, all relevant departments and relevant personnel should perform their respective duties and fulfill their respective responsibilities. Those who fail to perform their duties seriously and cause major management problems of construction funds for the agro-industrial parks should be investigated according to relevant provisions. Those who constitute a crime should be investigated for criminal responsibility according to law.

Chapter IV Supplementary provisions

Article 20 Numerical values "up to", "above", "no less than", "no lower than", "no higher than" and "no more than" in these regulations all include base values. All amounts mentioned in these regulations should be calculated in renminbi, unless otherwise indicated.

Article 21 These regulations should enter into force from the date of issuance and should be valid for five years. The Notice by Nansha District Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Guangzhou Municipality and Nansha District Bureau of Finance of Guangzhou Municipality on Issuing Regulations on Managing Subsidies for Nansha Modern Agro-Industrial Park of (Normative Document No 3 [2020] of Nansha District Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Guangzhou Municipality) should be annulled on the same date. In case of any adjustment or change of laws, regulations or relevant policies during the valid period of these Regulations, such adjustment or change should prevail.

Form of Disclosure: Active Disclosure

Issued by Nansha district bureau of agriculture and rural affairs of Guangzhou municipality on April 11, 2023