TAIPEI: Taiwan plans to spend NT$18.8 billion ($571 million) to rebuild its agriculture infrastructure. NT$5 billion of that will be in cash handouts, the Council of Agriculture said yesterday.

The losses caused by typhoon Morakot are second only to those created by typhoon Herb in 1985. That cost NT$18 billion in losses, according to the council.

Included in the NT$9.8 billion agricultural losses are NT$2.4 billion in damages suffered by fisheries. That figure could go higher because authorities have not been able to complete their inspection, the council added.

Council of Agriculture Chairman Chen Wu-hsiung said the affected farmers in 11 counties and two cities are eligible for cash handouts. The 11 counties are Miaoli, Taichung, Canghua, Yunlin, Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien and Tainan. The two cities are Chiayi and Tainan.

The council has also set up low-interest loans to assist farmers. The loans extend to farmers in 11 counties and three cities including Taichung city.

South Taiwan's infrastructure took a battering from typhoon Morakot. The government said it will spend about NT$20 billion to rebuild roads and bridges.

More than 738,000 customers remain without running water, 26,318 without power and 37,383 have phone lines that are disconnected, the fire agency said yesterday.

Morakot brought more than 3,000 millimeters (118 inches) of rain to Taiwan, the most for a 48-hour period in 100 years of record keeping, the Central Weather Bureau said.

As Taiwan digs out from the storm, authorities are warning enterprises not to enter into collusion on pricing, so that the interests of consumers are protected.

The government has declared it will provide frozen vegetables and meat to help stabilize supplies, the Executive Yuan said in a statement yesterday.

In Taipei, the composite wholesale vegetable price rose 1.27 percent from Wednesday's NT$31.6 per kg. That is 51.6 percent higher than the pre-Morakot price of NT$21.1 on August 5.

Bloomberg/CNA

(HK Edition 08/14/2009 page2)