Legislature passes bill to nationalize irrigation groupsBy Huang Hsin-po and Dennis Xie / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Legislative Yuan yesterday passed the third reading of a bill to convert Taiwan’s 17 irrigation associations into a government body, despite strong opposition from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and some farmers. There are 17 irrigation associations nationwide and one joint association in Taichung, a Council of Agriculture Web site showed. When the legislature passed amendments to the Act of Irrigation Association Organization (農田水利會組織通則) in 2018 requiring the entities to be legally defined as public juridical persons, the government was already seeking “illegitimate ways” to “infringe upon assets belonging to irrigation associations,” KMT Legislator Kung Wen-chi (孔文吉) said. DPP caucus secretary-general Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) said that if irrigation associations are non-governmental entities, they cannot enforce the law or crack down on people involved in illegal activity related to agricultural irrigation and drainage and their funds for irrigation and drainage come from the council. Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said that the council would establish a new irrigation and water conservancy department, with 17 divisions, that would replace the 17 associations.

Source: Taipei Times July 02, 2020 15:56 UTC