Government supports countryside startups by rolling out favorable policies

China is to invest 3.4 trillion yuan ($495 billion) over the next four years to improve infrastructure in rural areas, including water supplies, roads and power supplies, as the government seeks to boost incomes and encourage startups.

Tang Renjian, deputy director of the Central Rural Work Leading Group, the top rural affairs decision-making agency, said on Monday that the central government’s only option is to increase investment in the agricultural sector and rural areas in the face of an ongoing economic slowdown.

“We need to put available funding to better use,” he said, commenting on the government’s first policy document of this year, which was released on Sunday and called for the continuation of supply-side structural reforms to bring fresh momentum to the agricultural sector.

Tang said the cost of road maintenance in rural areas alone could reach 340 billion yuan in the next four years, and so far, authorities have allocated only one-third of that.

To solve the shortage, he said the government will try to raise funds through publicprivate partnerships and subsidized loans.

The government will seek to establish a variety of investment funds in the agricultural sector, and issue more government bonds that support infrastructure programs in the countryside, he said, adding, “These measures will be like diversion channels that enable social capital to flow to rural areas.”

Han Jun, deputy office director of the group, said the policy document prioritizes the development of rural entrepreneurship by rolling

We need to put available funding to better use.” Tang Renjian, Amount to be invested in improving infrastructure in rural areas over the next four years

out favorable policies for land, financial services and personnel training.

He said the government hopes that startups can attract more talent to rural areas, bringing with them