Noticeof ShanghaiMunicipal Commission of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Finance on IssuingtheProceduresof Shanghai Municipality on the Administration of Farmland Construction Projects and Funds

SMARC D [2019] No. 20

Attention:All District Commissions of Agricultural and Rural Affairs, Finance Bureaus and Relevant Units:

In order to implement the Procedures for the Management of Farmland Construction Projects (Decree No. 4 of MARA in 2019), the Procedures for the Management of Farmland Construction Subsidies (FA [2019] No. 46) and other relevant provisions, further improve the management level of farmland construction projects in Shanghai and improve the efficiency of fund use, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, together with  Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Finance, formulated the Procedures of Shanghai Municipality on the Administration of Farmland Construction Projects and Funds. These Procedures are hereby issued to you for your conscientious implementation.

Shanghai Municipal Commission of Agriculture and Rural Affairs

Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Finance

November 14, 2019

Procedures of Shanghai Municipality on the Administration of

Farmland Construction Projects and Funds

In order to strengthen the work of farmland construction in this Municipality, standardize the management and use of funds for farmland construction projects, and improve the comprehensive agricultural production capacities, these Procedures are formulated in accordance with the Budget Law of the Peoples Republic of China, the Regulations on the Protection of Basic Farmland, the Procedures for the Management of Farmland Construction Projects (Decree No. 4 of MARA in 2019),the Procedures for the Management of Farmland Construction Subsidies (FA [2019] No. 46) and other relevant provisions.

Chapter I  General Provisions

Article 1

The term farmland as mentioned in these Procedures refers to the cultivated land used for the production of agricultural products determined in accordance with the demand of the population and social and economic development for agricultural products in a certain period of time and in accordance with the general planning for land use (the economic fruit and wood landis to be managed by reference to that of the cultivated land).

Article 2

The farmland construction refers to the activities that the governments at all levels arrange funds for comprehensive management and protection of farmland in order to support the sustainable development of agriculture, improve the conditions of farmland infrastructure, and realize the strategy of storing grain in the land and storing grain in technology. For farmland construction, projects shall be taken as the starting point, farmland infrastructure construction shall be promoted with standardized management procedures and independent accounting of funds, so as to form the comprehensive production capacity of farmland.

Article 3

The farmland construction project funds (hereinafter referred to as farmland construction funds) refer to the special funds arranged by the financial departments at all levels to support the construction of farmland related projects in this Municipality in order to stabilize and optimize the farmland layout and comprehensively improve the farmland quality.　

Article 4

The farmland construction funds shall be jointly managed by the Municipal Bureau of Finance and the Municipal Commission of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and shall be allocated, used and managed in accordance with the principles of clear policy objectives, scientific allocation methods, coordination of expenditure direction and performance and result orientation.

Article 5

The Municipal Commission of Agriculture and Rural Affairs shall be responsible for formulating the policies and plans for the construction of farmland in this Municipality and implementing the annual construction tasks. It shall also be responsible for the medium-term financial planning and annual budget preparation of farmland construction projects, preliminary project review, construction of the municipal project database, information disclosure, project plan approval, project supervision, project acceptance and final account approval, and it shall work with the Municipal Bureau of Finance to set performance targets, monitor and evaluate performance.

The Municipal Bureau of Finance shall be responsible for the medium-term financial planning and annual budget review of farmland construction projects, the release of municipal (including the central) government funds, the supervision and performance management of the use of farmland construction funds. It shall cooperate with the Municipal Commission of Agricultural and Rural Affairs in the approval of annual project plans and final accounts.

The district agricultural and rural affairs authorities and municipal agricultural production enterprises and units (referring to Bright Food Group, Shangshi Agricultural Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Real Estate and Agricultural Investment & Development Co., Ltd., hereinafter referred to as the agricultural related units) are the main management body of farmland construction projects, responsible for the compilation of farmland construction planning, project database construction, project application, organization of implementation, supervision and inspection, completion acceptance, rectification and re-inspection, etc. in their areas.

The district financial departments shall be mainly responsible for the arrangement and implementation of district-level farmland construction funds, accounting and allocating funds according to relevant provisions, and daily supervision and performance management of fund use. They shall cooperate with the competent agricultural and rural affairs authorities to report the projects and complete their acceptance.

Article 6

The basic farmland is the implementation scope of the farmland construction projects, with focus on grain production functional areas, vegetable production protection areas and distinctive agricultural product advantage areas, and inclination to the basic farmland in vegetable production protection towns and rural revitalization demonstration villages.

Article 7

In the process of promoting farmland construction projects, the administrative departments at all levels (the agricultural related units) shall adhere to the principles of planning and layout first, industry goal guidance, strong organization guarantee and performance goal restriction, and jointly complete various work such as farmland construction project approval, reply, implementation promotion, completion acceptance, asset management and reporting charts and data.

Chapter II  General Supporting Objects, Contents and Standards

Article 8

The farmland construction projects take farmers as the main beneficiaries, and the supporting objects are rural collective economic organizations, family farms, farmers cooperatives, large specialized agricultural family operations and relevant agricultural enterprises and units.

Article 9

The funds for farmland construction shall support the construction of appropriate scale farmland area and water conservancy irrigation area related projects, and the construction area of such a project shall not be less than 100 mu.。

Article 10

Farmland construction funds support the following construction contents:

1. land leveling;

2. soil improvement;

3. irrigation and drainage and water-saving facilities;

4. field tractor roads;

5. farmland protection and ecological environment maintenance;

6. farmland power transmission and distribution;

7. other project contents related to damaged project restoration and farmland construction.

Article 11

Investment standards of farmland construction funds:

Grain production (gross land): no more than 14,000 yuan per mu

Vegetable production (gross land): no more than 3,5000 yuan per mu

Cash crop production (gross land): no more than 2,3000 yuan per mu

Within the scopes of investment standards, the municipal financial support funds shall be arranged according to the budget estimate of farmland construction projects and the funds to be borne shall be settled according to the final accounts of the completed projects.

Article 12

The responsibility for the expenditure of farmland construction funds shall be jointly undertaken by the municipality, district and the relevant municipal agricultural related units, and different policies shall be implemented according to the financial situations and construction tasks, specifically: for Pudong New Area, Minhang District, Jiading District and Baoshan District, the Municipal-level share shall not be higher than 60%, the district share not lower than 40%; for Qingpu District and Songjiang District, the municipal-level share shall not be higher than 70%, the district share not lower than 30%; for Jinshan District and Fengxian District, the municipal-level share shall not be higher than 80%, and the district share not lower than 20%; for Chongming District, the municipal-level share shall not be higher than 90%, and the district share not lower than 10%; for the relevant agricultural related units, the municipal-level financial share shall not be higher than 80%, and the unit share not lower than 20%.

Article 13

The before and after connection, linkage arrangement between farmland construction projects and industrial project construction shall be strengthened. According to the requirements of overall planning and integration, the farmland construction funds and other financial funds shall focus on key regions and projects, investing together to form a joint force, but repeat arrangement shall not be allowed, and the social funds and financial capital shall be actively encouraged and guided for their investment in farmland construction.

Chapter III  Project Application and Approval

Article 14

The district competent agricultural and rural affairs authorities (the agricultural related units) shall, in accordance with the local water and soil resources conditions and agricultural development planning, make overall plans to implement the proposed farmland construction projects in their regions.

Article 15

For farmland construction projects, the district competent agricultural and rural affairs authorities (the agricultural related units) shall entrust professional organizations with corresponding qualifications to prepare preliminary design documents of the projects on the basis of field surveying and mapping and investigation.

The preliminary design documents include the industrial development objectives, water and soil resources conditions, construction tasks and time nodes, construction management and construction organization design, budget estimate, performance objectives, design drawings (area, status quo, planning), etc. of the project areas.

Article 16

The competent agricultural and rural affairs authorities and financial departments of each district shall, before the end of July of each year, apply for the implementation plans of the next year, and jointly submit the project application reports, preliminary design documents and other materials to the Municipal Commission of Agricultural and Rural Affairs. The application time and material requirements of the agricultural related units shall be implemented with reference.

Article 17

The Municipal Commission of Agricultural and Rural Affairs shall organize the preliminary examination of the submitted preliminary project design plans. If the plans meet the requirements, it shall entrust third-party organizations with relevant qualifications to organize the examination, establish municipal project database, and jointly handle the project approval with the Municipal Bureau of Finance according to the annual budget arrangement.

Article 18

Before approval, the projects shall be publicized on the relevant websites for 5 working days.

Chapter IV  Project Implementation Management

Article 19

The project legal person system shall be implemented for the farmland construction projects, and the bidding, investment (financial) supervision, project supervision, project publicity, price audit, project acceptance and other management systems shall be implemented in accordance with the relevant provisions of the State and this Municipality. The relevant social professional institutions providing services shall be entrusted by the project management departments of each district (the agricultural related units).

Article 20

The farmland construction projects shall be organized and implemented in accordance with the approved plans, and the construction periods of the project shall not exceed 24 months in principle.

Article 21

In case of any of the following circumstances, the project approval departments shall decide to terminate the projects:

1. The constructions have not been started for more than one year (including) after the approval is issued;

2. The project implementation subjects and construction sites are changed;

3. The total investment amounts of the projects are adjusted to more than 20% (inclusive); Or

4. Other circumstances in which suspension of the projects shall be handled.

Article 22

In case of one of the following situations, the projects shall be submitted to the municipal approval department for project adjustment approval:

1. Where it is proposed to extend the construction within one year after the approval is issued;

2. The total project investment is adjusted between 10% (inclusive) and 20%; Or

3. Other situations in which project adjustment shall be handled.

Article 23

In case of any of the following circumstances, the projects shall be submitted to the district administrative departments (agricultural related units) for approval of the project adjustment:

1. The total project investment is adjusted between 5% (including) - 10%; Or

2. Other circumstances under which project adjustment shall be handled.

Article 24

The expenditure scopes of farmland construction funds include: the materials cost, equipment purchase cost and construction expenditure, preliminary work cost of the project construction, project bidding cost, project supervision cost and necessary project management cost, etc.

Article 25

The expenditure scopes of the project management fee refer to the expenses of project review, field investigation, inspection and acceptance, project implementation supervision, performance evaluation, fund and project publicity that need to be paid in the process of the farmland construction and implementation, which may be included in the budgets according to a certain proportion of the financial investment of the farmland projects and be disbursed according to the actual situations. If the total investment of a project is less than or equal to 15 million yuan, less than 3% shall be extracted; if the total investment of a project is more than 15 million yuan, less than 1% shall be extracted for the excess part.

Chapter V  Capital and Asset Management

Article 26

Each district (agricultural related unit) shall timely and fully arrange and get the self-raised funds for the farmland construction projects.

Article 27

The relevant state financial and accounting systems shall be strictly followed for the farmland construction funds, which shall be managed by specially assigned persons, with their special accounts and used for special purposes.

Article 28

The payment of the farmland construction funds shall be subject to the reimbursement system at the district (agricultural related unit) or town level, and the payment shall be made in accordance with the relevant provisions of centralized payment by the state treasury.

Article 29

Each district (agricultural related unit) shall carry out capital clearing according to the financial final accounts of the completed projects. The amounts of investment exceeding the approved plans shall be solved by each district (agricultural related unit) in an overall way, and the total investment within the approved plans shall be borne according to the specified proportions.

Article 30

The competent agricultural and rural affairs authorities (agricultural related units) and financial departments at all levels shall take effective measures to speed up the progress of budget implementation and improve the efficiency of fund use.

Article 31

The competent agricultural and rural affairs authorities (agricultural related units) and financial departments of each district shall handle the delivery of assets in time according to the relevant provisions of the agricultural assets management, clarify the main body of management and protection responsibility, establish and improve various operational management and protection systems, ensure that the farmland construction forms a long-term operation of assets, meanwhile strengthen the basic data management, and do a good job in reporting the charts and data of the farmland assets.

Chapter VI  Completion and Acceptance

Article 32

After the completion of the farmland construction projects, the work of project acceptance shall be standardized. For projects with a total investment of less than 10 million yuan (inclusive), the acceptance shall be organized by the district competent agricultural and rural affairs authorities, and the acceptance results shall be reported to the Municipal Commission of Agricultural and Rural Affairs for filing. This Municipality shall conduct spot check of not less than 10% of the acceptance projects of each district every year; the acceptance of projects with a total investment of more than 10 million yuan and all the projects of the agricultural related units shall be organized by the Municipal Commission of Agricultural and Rural Affairs.

Article 33

The projects applying for completion acceptance must meet the following conditions:

1. The construction contents of the approved plans have been completed, and the final accounts have been reviewed and audited by professional organizations.

2. All the management materials of the projects are complete and bound into volumes;

3. The main equipment and supporting facilities operate normally with the achievement of the design objectives of the projects; And

4. Each single project has been accepted by the design units, the construction units, the supervision units and the development units.

Article 34

If the projects fail to pass the acceptance, the project implementing units shall be ordered to make rectification within time limits. After the rectification, the acceptance shall be carried out again until the projects pass the acceptance.

Article 35

For the projects passing the acceptance, the Municipal Commission of Agricultural and Rural Affairs, together with the Municipal Bureau of Finance, shall handle the approval of the final financial accounts in accordance with the prescribed procedures.

Article 36

After the completion and acceptance of the farmland construction projects, unified and standardized publicity signs and plates shall be set up in the project areas to publicize the information of the farmland construction projects’ development units, design units, construction units, supervision units, project years, construction areas, investment scales, management and protection subjects in order to accept the supervision of the society and the masses.

Chapter VII  Supervision, Inspection and Performance Management

Article 37

The competent district agricultural and rural affairs authorities (agricultural related units) and financial departments shall strengthen the process tracking, supervision and inspection of the farmland construction projects, and timely rectify any problems found.

Article 38

The budget performance management of the farmland construction funds shall be carried out in the whole process of before, during and after the events. The project performance objectives shall be reasonably formulated and the performance evaluation shall be carried out regularly. The Municipal Bureau of Finance, together with the Municipal Commission of Agricultural and Rural Affairs, will take the results of performance evaluation as an important factor in the project arrangement for the next year, encourage each district and agricultural related unit to manage and make good use of farmland construction funds, and establish and improve the application mechanism of the results of the performance evaluation.

Article 39

The competent district agricultural and rural affair authorities (agricultural related units) and financial departments shall actively cooperate with the audit and other supervision departments in their financial audit, supervision and inspection, and timely implement the rectification of the problems found.

Article 40

The competent departments of finance, agriculture and rural affairs at all levels and their staff, in the work of fund distribution and examination, have distributed funds in violation of regulations, allocated funds to units (individuals or projects) that do not meet the conditions, or allocate or use funds beyond the prescribed scopes and standards without authorization, and have other illegal and disciplinary acts such as abuse of power, neglect of duty, favoritism and fraud, shall be investigated for responsibility in accordance with the Budget Law of the Peoples Republic of China, the Civil Servant Law of the Peoples Republic of China, the Administrative Supervision Law of the Peoples Republic of China and the Regulations on the Punishment of Financial Illegal Acts and other relevant state regulations, and those suspected of crimes shall be transferred to the judicial organs for handling.

Article 41

Any unit or individual using the funds that falsely reports and claims, swindles, misappropriates the farmland construction funds, or has other illegal acts, shall be investigated for corresponding responsibilities in accordance with the Budget Law of the Peoples Republic of China, the Regulations on Punishment of Financial Illegal Acts and other relevant provisions, and those suspected of crimes shall be transferred to the judicial organs for handling.

Chapter VIII  Supplementary Provisions

Article 42

Each district may formulate specific implementation measures in accordance with these Procedures and the actual situation of the district.

Article 43

These Procedures shall be interpreted by the Municipal Commission of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Municipal Bureau of Finance.

Article 44

These Procedures shall be effective as of November 1, 2019 and be valid until December 31, 2022.

   Shanghai Municipal Commission of Agriculture and Rural Affairs

Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Finance