The Executive Yuan yesterday unveiled a series of restructuring bills, seeking to transfer the work of the Public Construction Commission to the National Development Council; transform the Institute of Nuclear Energy Research into an administrative institute charged with researching the decommissioning of nuclear power plants; and establish a central agricultural research and extension station.
Premier William Lai (賴清德) approved the bills at a Cabinet-level meeting at the Executive Yuan in Taipei.
After the Organizational Act of the Executive Yuan (行政院組織法) was last amended in 2010, the Public Construction Commission, while still operating, had been removed from the Cabinet’s organizational chart, Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Minister Jay Shih (施能傑) said afterwards.
According to a draft amendment to the Organizational Act of the National Development Council (國家發展委員會組織法), the commission’s responsibilities of overseeing public construction would be transferred to the council, which is also in charge of overseeing public construction, Shih said, adding that the merger would streamline efforts.
An amendment was also passed to transfer government procurement from Ministry of Finance to the council, Shih said.
The Cabinet has approved a bill to transform the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) into a nuclear energy safety council in accordance with the amended Organizational Act of the Executive Yuan, Shih said, adding that the Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, which falls under the AEC, would also be reformed.
It would be renamed the Longtan national atomic technology research institute and would be supervised by the planned nuclear energy safety council.
AEC Deputy Minister Chiou Syh-tsong (邱賜聰) said the proposed Longtan institute would conduct research into nuclear energy safety, including the decommissioning of the nation’s nuclear power plants and the disposal of nuclear fuel rods to realize the government’s Nuclear-free Homeland policy by 2025.
Speaking about the proposed central agricultural research and extension station, Shih said that the nation’s seven district agricultural research and extension stations and two urban agricultural research stations have not been reformed in more than 60 years.
The central agricultural research and extension station would streamline research efforts, boost the efficiency of regional stations and cut personnel costs, he said.
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
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