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Public Works Act 1981

Irrigation

222: Application of this Part to existing schemes

You could also call this:

“This law lets old water schemes be updated and managed under new rules”

You can apply this part of the law to existing irrigation schemes that the Minister supplied water to in the five years before this Act started. The Minister can do this if they think it’s good for the country and if enough landowners support it. They can change how the scheme works and move assets and debts to a new district.

If the Minister changes an old scheme to a new one, they can still charge money or collect debts from the old scheme.

Even though some old laws were cancelled, parts of them still work. This lets the government keep running, fixing, and using water supply projects that were started under those old laws. It also means that agreements about those projects are still valid.

When the Minister decides to apply this part of the law to an existing scheme, it’s called secondary legislation. This means it has to follow special rules about how it’s published.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM48321.

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Part 19 Irrigation

222Application of this Part to existing schemes

  1. If the Minister has, at any time within 5 years before the commencement of this Act, supplied water for irrigation of land under any former enactment relating to irrigation schemes, and it appears to the Minister that—

  2. it is in the national interest; and
    1. there is sufficient support for the proposal from the occupiers of the land affected—
        1. the Minister may decide that, in substitution for any existing provisions or arrangements applying thereto and subject to such modifications as are appropriate, including provisions for dealing with any existing assets and liabilities and their transfer to a district to be constituted under this Part, the provisions of this Part may be applied to that land or part of that land, and any additional land, as for a new scheme commencing with notification pursuant to section 202.

      1. The phasing in of a new scheme and the termination of the existing scheme or part of it shall not prevent the Minister from making or enforcing any charge, exercising any remedy, or recovering any debt due to the Crown, in respect of any scheme or part of a scheme so terminated.

      2. Notwithstanding the repeal of the enactments set out in Schedule 8, the provisions of Part 11 of the Public Works Act 1928 (including Part 1 of the Public Works Amendment Act 1960) and of section 29 of the Finance Act (No 2) 1936 shall continue in full force and effect as if such repeal had not been made to the extent necessary to enable any water supply works still being constructed, and those works already constructed, under any of those provisions, to be operated, maintained, repaired, and renewed, and to enable all agreements entered into by the Minister in respect of those works to be fully implemented, protected, and enforced.

      3. A decision under subsection (1) is secondary legislation (see Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019 for publication requirements).

      Compare
      • 1975 No 138 s 27
      Notes
      • Section 222(1): amended, on , by section 69 of the Public Works Amendment Act 1988 (1988 No 43).
      • Section 222(4): inserted, on , by section 3 of the Secondary Legislation Act 2021 (2021 No 7).