Accelerating Water Conservancy Construction: Three Departments Jointly Hold Video Conference

On the morning of October 9, the Ministry of Water Resources, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Finance jointly held a video conference on accelerating water conservancy construction, to thoroughly implement the central government's decisions and arrangements on water governance and water development, and to address the progress of key projects such as rural drinking water safety and major water conservancy projects for water-saving and water supply, so as to redeploy, re-supervise and re-implement the acceleration of project construction, and ensure that the annual key water conservancy construction tasks are completed on schedule with quality and quantity guaranteed. Chen Lei, Minister of Water Resources, Lin Nianxiu, Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, and Hu Jinglin, Vice Minister of Finance, attended and delivered speeches. Jiao Yong, Vice Minister of Water Resources, presided over the meeting. Zhou Xuewen, Member of the Party Leadership Group of the Ministry of Water Resources and Chief Planner, attended the meeting.

Chen Lei pointed out that since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as General Secretary has attached great importance to water conservancy work and made a series of major arrangements. General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech on ensuring water security, and clearly put forward the water governance approach of “prioritizing water conservation, balancing spatial distribution, systematic governance, and mobilizing both government and market forces”, which provides a scientific guide and basic compliance for us to do a good job in water conservancy work. Premier Li Keqiang presided over an executive meeting of the State Council, making overall arrangements for accelerating the construction of major water conservancy projects for water-saving and water supply. Accelerating water conservancy construction is a major measure to stabilize growth, promote reform, adjust structure and benefit the people's livelihood, a concrete action to fulfill and honor the government's commitments, a fundamental requirement to implement the decisions and arrangements of the State Council executive meeting, and an important measure to implement the State Council's supervision and rectification opinions. It is necessary to fully understand the great significance of accelerating water conservancy construction, further enhance the sense of responsibility and urgency in accelerating water conservancy construction, and build as soon as possible a number of key water conservancy projects that lay the foundation, serve the long term, promote development and benefit the people's livelihood, so as to provide a solid water security guarantee for the sustained and healthy development of the economy and society.

Chen Lei emphasized that it is necessary to accurately grasp the tasks of water conservancy construction and accelerate the improvement of the water conservancy infrastructure system. First, accelerate the construction of the 172 major water conservancy projects for water-saving and water supply deployed by the State Council. It is necessary to accelerate the construction of 40 projects under construction, including major agricultural water-saving projects, the Central Jilin Songhua River Water Diversion, and the governance of the three rivers in Northeast China, implement central and local investment, and strengthen construction organization and quality and safety supervision. It is necessary to advance the construction of 44 projects newly started this year and next year. On the basis of the 8 projects already started this year, including the Liaoning Guanyinge Reservoir Water Conveyance, the Anhui Huai River Water Diversion to the North, and the Tibet Laluo Water Conservancy Hub, efforts should be made to start another 9 projects before the end of the year, including the Shaanxi Han-to-Wei River Water Diversion, the Xijiang Datengxia, the Xinjiang Altash, and the Guizhou Jiayan Water Conservancy Hub, and strive to start 27 projects next year, including the second phase of the Gansu Tao River Water Supply and the Henan Chushandian. It is necessary to do a good job in the preliminary demonstration of 88 projects, including the Anhui Yangtze-to-Huai River Water Diversion, the Yunnan Central Yunnan Water Diversion, and the Yellow River Guxian Water Conservancy Hub, coordinate and solve problems in technology, economy, environment, land acquisition, and resettlement, and strive to start construction as soon as possible during the “13th Five-Year Plan” period. Second, comprehensively complete the tasks of the rural drinking water safety plan. It is necessary to continue to increase supervision, inspection and technical guidance, implement various safeguard measures, improve the mechanisms for project supervision and inspection, audit and inspection, performance assessment, evaluation and assessment, and rewards for the excellent and penalties for the poor, ensure that another 60 million rural people's drinking water safety problem is solved this year, and fully complete the “12th Five-Year Plan” rural drinking water safety construction tasks next year. Third, make every effort to solve the “last mile” problem of irrigation. Starting from establishing a reasonable agricultural water price formation mechanism, clarifying initial agricultural water rights, deepening the reform of the farmland water conservancy project management system, establishing a precise subsidy mechanism for agricultural water conservation, promoting agricultural water-saving measures, and strengthening the construction of agricultural water-saving engineering systems, promote agricultural water conservation and efficiency improvement. Deepen the comprehensive reform of agricultural water prices, continue to carry out the continued construction, supporting facilities and water-saving renovation of large-scale irrigation districts, and focus on strengthening the construction of terminal supporting facilities for farmland water conservancy. Fourth, vigorously carry out the basic construction of farmland water conservancy in winter and spring. The State Council will recently hold a special meeting to deploy the basic construction of farmland water conservancy for this winter and next spring. All localities should, in accordance with the deployment of the State Council, seize the favorable opportunity of winter and spring, strengthen organization, coordination and supervision and inspection, innovate systems and mechanisms, increase investment, integrate resources, and organize and mobilize all forces in society to vigorously carry out farmland water conservancy construction, ensure that the completed investment and earthwork volume this winter and next spring increase by more than 10% and 5% respectively over the previous year, and ensure that the machinery deployed, farmers' labor input and comprehensive benefits grow steadily over the previous year.

Chen Lei emphasized that at present it is necessary to highlight the following key tasks. First, focus on accelerating the progress of project construction. Projects under construction should formulate meticulous progress plans, do everything possible to guarantee construction conditions, work backward from the deadline, control nodes, organize scientifically, and strictly complete project construction tasks according to the goals; projects not yet started should promptly implement various construction conditions, solve prominent problems affecting the progress of project construction, and do a good job as soon as possible in bidding, construction preparation and other work, striving to start construction as early as possible. Second, focus on implementing project construction funds. Provinces where investment plans and budget funds have not yet been issued should promptly break them down and issue them to specific projects. It is necessary to implement the responsibility for raising local construction funds, increase fiscal input, increase the proportion of provincial-level funds as much as possible, and urge cities and counties to implement supporting funds. Make full use of various policies and measures for financial support of water conservancy, innovate water conservancy investment and financing models, and encourage and guide social capital to participate in water conservancy project construction. Third, focus on ensuring the quality of project construction. Firmly establish the idea of “quality first, safety paramount”, and conscientiously do a good job in quality management throughout the entire process of water conservancy project construction. Implement the quality and safety responsibilities of project legal persons, design, construction, supervision and other units, standardize market access for water conservancy construction, strictly implement the project quality leadership responsibility system and the project quality lifelong responsibility system of participating units, and especially strengthen quality supervision of water conservancy projects organized and implemented at the county level, and increase special quality testing of key livelihood water conservancy projects such as rural drinking water safety, reinforcement of dangerous reservoirs, and small and medium-sized river governance, as well as major water conservancy projects, to ensure that quality problems do not occur. Fourth, focus on increasing supervision and inspection. It is necessary to strengthen random spot checks, special inspections, cross-checks, and key audits, carry out regular supervision and inspection, and urge city and county water conservancy departments to implement supervision and inspection responsibilities. It is necessary to strengthen the pertinence and effectiveness of supervision and inspection. For problems found in supervision and inspection, and for regions and projects where rectification is not timely or in place, increase punishment. At the same time, organically combine supervision and inspection with guidance and assistance, and effectively improve the level of construction management. Fifth, focus on building honest water conservancy projects. It is necessary to take building honest water conservancy projects as an important part of implementing the main responsibility and supervision responsibility for party conduct and clean government construction, and effectively implement the “two responsibilities”. It is necessary to comprehensively find clean government risks in all links of water conservancy construction and strengthen clean government risk prevention and control measures. In terms of review and approval, it is necessary to reduce links, standardize procedures, and prevent power rent-seeking. In terms of bidding and tendering, it is necessary to vigorously promote water conservancy construction projects' bidding and tendering to enter the trading venue, strictly prohibit breaking up projects into parts to evade bidding, and strictly prohibit qualification borrowing and affiliation, bid rigging, subcontracting, and illegal subcontracting. In terms of fund management, it is necessary to strictly enforce financial discipline, improve internal control systems, strictly use funds in accordance with regulations and accept supervision, and prevent embezzlement, misappropriation, and problems such as crowding out and interception. It is necessary to fully give play to the role of discipline inspection, supervision, auditing, inspection and other departments to form a joint regulatory force.

Chen Lei required that all localities should make full use of the golden construction period after the flood season, comprehensively implement various safeguard measures, further increase work efforts, and ensure the successful completion of the annual target tasks on schedule. First, effectively strengthen organizational leadership. It is necessary, according to the actual situation of the province and region and the weak links in project implementation, to formulate detailed work plans in a targeted manner, and promptly report to the provincial government. The principal responsible comrades of water conservancy departments at all levels should personally inquire about, personally deploy and personally coordinate important links, major issues and important matters in water conservancy construction, and the leaders in charge should conscientiously do a good job in implementation and promptly solve existing problems. Second, comprehensively implement work responsibilities. In all levels, all links and all aspects of water conservancy construction work, the responsibility system of principal leaders should be implemented, and the responsibilities of all departments, all cities and counties, all project responsible units and all relevant responsible personnel should be clarified, ensuring that work is managed, tasks are grasped, responsibilities are borne, and implementation is carried out level by level. For departments, units and relevant responsible personnel where work is not implemented, tasks are not completed, and supervision is not in place, in addition to pursuing the responsibility of the directly responsible persons in accordance with relevant regulations, the responsible persons of departments and units shall also be held accountable. Third, pay attention to overall coordination and cooperation. Water conservancy departments at all levels should make overall arrangements for management, technical and construction forces, further strengthen coordination and communication with development and reform, finance, land, environmental protection and other departments, and promptly implement various conditions for project construction. River basin agencies and relevant directly affiliated units should accelerate the progress of local project review and technical review, strengthen technical guidance, and assist localities in doing a good job in various tasks of key water conservancy construction projects. Relevant departments and bureaus of the Ministry of Water Resources should strengthen guidance and do a good job in supervision and inspection. Fourth, plan ahead for next year's water conservancy construction work. Next year is the last year for completing the “12th Five-Year Plan” water conservancy construction tasks and also a key year for accelerating the promotion of major water conservancy projects. In order to ensure the completion of the planning tasks determined by the State Council by the end of next year, central investment for some key projects such as rural drinking water safety, small and medium-sized river governance, and reinforcement of small dangerous reservoirs will be arranged in advance by the end of this year. All localities should formulate annual construction plans as soon as possible, calculate local construction investment well, accelerate the preliminary work of major water conservancy projects, and promptly do a good job in project review and approval, laying a good foundation for early start of project construction.

Lin Nianxiu pointed out that accelerating the promotion of major water conservancy project construction is an important measure for implementing targeted regulation, stimulating vitality, shoring up weak links, strengthening the real economy and benefiting the people's livelihood. Development and reform departments should adhere to reform and innovation as the guide and make every effort to do a good job in all work related to accelerating water conservancy construction. First, provincial development and reform departments should promptly consult with water conservancy departments, break down and issue investment plans to specific projects as soon as possible, and promptly and fully implement local supporting construction investment to ensure that it is in place simultaneously with central investment. Second, accelerate the promotion of major water conservancy projects for water-saving and water supply, further promote the preliminary work of major water conservancy projects, increase government input, improve the market environment, and strengthen project construction management. In particular, for major water conservancy projects planned to start this year, it is necessary to formulate timetables item by item, work backward on progress, implement project investment, and promptly start construction. Third, make every effort to accelerate the implementation of the “12th Five-Year Plan” for the National Rural Drinking Water Safety Project and the progress of annual project construction, and comprehensively complete the target tasks set this year. Fourth, effectively strengthen the management of fund use to ensure project safety, fund safety and cadre safety.

Lin Nianxiu emphasized that it is necessary to improve and perfect the responsibility division and implementation mechanism, the fund-raising incentive mechanism, and the project implementation supervision and inspection mechanism, implement the territorial responsibility of projects and the government investment responsibility, strengthen the responsibility constraints on departments and units such as engineering consulting, investment project decision-making, design, construction, and supervision, further accelerate water conservancy construction, and ensure the completion of annual construction tasks on schedule.

Hu Jinglin pointed out that water conservancy is an important foundation for economic and social development, and supporting water conservancy construction and development is the bounden duty of finance departments at all levels. Finance departments at all levels in all localities should actively work with water conservancy and other relevant departments to further implement and improve various policies and measures for financial support of water conservancy construction and development. First, include water conservancy as a support priority in the medium-term fiscal budget plan, clarify fiscal support policies and key investment directions, and enhance the continuity and pertinence of water conservancy investment. Second, accelerate the progress of budget execution of fiscal water conservancy funds, proactively grasp the progress of major water conservancy project construction, scientifically allocate funds, optimize the disbursement procedures, and guarantee the fund needs of major water conservancy projects. Third, vigorously support the establishment of a multi-agent, multi-channel and multi-form investment and financing mechanism, steadily increase investment in water conservancy reform and development, explore the use of multiple methods, and encourage, guide and promote social capital investment in water conservancy construction.

⟦NL> Hu Jinglin emphasized that it is necessary to adopt more effective measures to improve and strengthen water conservancy fund management. It is necessary to establish and improve an institutional system covering the entire process of water conservancy fund operation and project construction, continuously improve the risk prevention and control mechanism for the allocation and use of water conservancy funds, and explore the establishment of an incentive mechanism linking fund allocation with the performance of fund use management. It is necessary to closely focus on major water conservancy plans and major projects, actively build a platform for integrating water conservancy-related funds, strengthen the integration and overall planning of water conservancy funds, and accelerate the promotion of major water conservancy project construction.

Jiao Yong emphasized in the meeting summary that all units should promptly report the spirit of this meeting to the principal responsible comrades and leaders in charge of the government, convey it within the development and reform, finance, and water conservancy systems, and according to the spirit of this meeting, combined with the specific situation of water conservancy construction in each locality, further clarify target tasks, implement responsibility division, strengthen supervision and inspection, and earnestly grasp and do a good job in accelerating water conservancy construction. Government departments at all levels should effectively give play to the main responsibility for organizing and supervising the acceleration of water conservancy construction, efficiently implement investment plans, promptly issue construction funds, and conduct strict supervision and inspection of construction projects to ensure project progress, quality and safety.

At the meeting, the water conservancy departments of Hubei, Sichuan, Hebei, and Heilongjiang, the development and reform commissions of Shandong and Shaanxi, and the finance department of Guangdong made exchange speeches. Responsible comrades of relevant departments and bureaus and directly affiliated units of the Ministry of Water Resources, and relevant departments and bureaus of the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance attended the meeting at the main venue. Responsible comrades of governments of all provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities), and responsible comrades of water conservancy, development and reform, and finance departments of river basin agencies and all provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities), cities under separate state planning, and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps attended the meeting at sub-venues in various localities.