Land Consolidation Engineering Bureau, Ministry of the Interior, R.O.CLand Consolidation Engineering Bureau, Ministry of the Interior, R.O.C

According to Article 15 of the Farmland Readjustment Act, the farmland after readjustment should be irrigated and drained directly, and close to the roadway. The standards concerning the parcels shall be determined by the competent authority of the municipality or county (city).

According to Article 2 of the Methods of Setting the Farmland Readjustment Committee, the county governments may set up the Farmland Readjustment Committee for agricultural land consolidation. Relevant tasks are as follows: 1. Reviewing the scope of agricultural land consolidation and the farmland readjustment plan. 2. Coordinating finance for agricultural land consolidation and standards of burden relief for the farmland readjustment area. 3. Reviewing the plan and design for agricultural land consolidation and the engineering budget. 4. Reviewing the disposal of the offset-expenditure land and the fragmented land within the farmland readjustment area and the use of the surplus. 5. Mediating disputes concerning agricultural land consolidation. 6. Coordinating, promoting and guiding agricultural land consolidation

The budget of this project was drawn up by the Council of Agriculture of the Executive Yuan. Project implementation, management and assessments would be implemented by the central district office of the Department of Land Administration (DLA). According to the proposed project procedure, local governments must first carry out preliminary prospecting. The central district office of the DLA shall then implement land re-assessments, followed by approval from the Council of Agriculture of the Executive Yuan.

Rural road and water channel improvement projects for early farmland readjustment areas by local governments in the earlier rural consolidation zones shall first be approved by the Council of Agriculture of the Executive Yuan. Preliminary planning and engineering designs shall be carried out by local governments with the assistance of the LCEB. Management and assessments shall be carried out by the Department of Land Administration (DLA) of the Ministry of the Interior.

The supervision work may be carried out by local governments or delegated to external organizations. If the local government chooses to delegate the LCEB in supervising the project, the LCEB shall initiate negotiations after evaluating available human resources. Supervision shall be implemented after reaching an agreement from both parties and signing of relevant contracts.

These projects target plots that have already underwent farmland readjustment before the 1970s. Any roads within these plots less than 4 meters wide would be widened to 4 meters. Irrigation and drainage channels that run parallel along the rural roads would be converted to a U-shaped concrete lined ditch. Roads would also be improved to gravel roads in order to satisfy the requirements for modern agricultural operations.

The allocated engineering funds (253,000 NTD per hectare) for rural and water channel roads would be dependent on local needs and requirements. If the original roads are already AC (or PC), then either single-sided (or double-sided) repairs or AC (or PC) may be applied. The only reductions made would be land reserved for greenery (single-sided roads would need to have a greenery zone measuring 50 cm across; double-sided roads would require a greenery zone of 1 m across). Roads that are not AC (or PC) would be only improved to gravel roads.

The improvement ofrural road and water channel in early farmland readjustment areas designated for modernization and improvement readjustment is managed and planned on the principle of retaining the original planting. If the original planting areas will actually have an effect on subsequent rural road and water channel facilities, transplant operations will be coordinated with the proprietor to protect the original planting.

The principles of planting for rural road and water channel improvement areas in early farmland readjustment areas are as follows:Rural roads with a width of 5 meters after improvement shall adopt single-sided planting;Rural roads with a width of 6 meters or more after improvement shall adopt a crisscross planting pattern.

By principle, the U-shaped ditches along both sides of the agricultural roads shall be improved, with two adjacent blocks sharing a single 4-meter wide agricultural slab bridge. Where necessary, exceptions may be made for land blocks that are unable to share a slab bridge. If there are requests to widen the bridge or exclusive use, any construction costs that exceed the standard shall be either financed by the county (city) governments or independently paid for by the landowner.