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Far Glory gets going on trade park

"Direct air links would motivate businesses to take root in Taiwan, allowing businessmen to make their China-bound trips within a day."

Ma Ying-jeou, Taipei mayor

Far Glory Group (遠雄集團) yesterday held a ground-breaking ceremony marking the start of construction of a free-trade zone attached to the NT$21.3 billion air-cargo park at Chiang Kai-shek International Airport.

"The 45-hectare park, measuring 300,000 ping, will be the first in the nation to help the logistics of exporters and importers," group chairman Chao Teng-hsing (趙藤雄) yesterday told the ceremony, attended by political heavyweights including Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), Council for Economic Planning and Development Vice Chairwoman Ho Mei-yueh (何美玥) and Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).

To appeal to high-tech industries, Chao claimed the turnaround time for 98 percent to 100 percent of goods would be less than two days.

According to Chao, Far Glory has signed a 50-year build-operate-transfer agreement with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, which has allocated NT$4.5 billion to build the park during the past 17 years.

Although the park was originally slated to be completed by 2018, Chao yesterday vowed to open the park by 2009. The first phase construction will be completed at the end of next year.

"No problem, we can make it ahead of schedule," Chao said.

The proposed park is expected to help boost the local economy by creating 120,000 jobs and NT$600 billion of economic output a year, he said.

Lu expressed optimism about the park's future, saying she expected the park, in her home town of Taoyuan, to function as the nation's door to the world.

She urged China to work toward thawing cross-strait relations as economic ties become closer.

Ma said he was concerned that the Democratic Progressive Party's reluctance to implement direct links would likely create a serious trade barrier that would hinder the park's operations and the nation's future economic development.

"Direct air links would motivate businesses to take root in Taiwan, allowing businessmen to make their China-bound trips within a day," Ma told the ceremony.

In response to Ma's concerns, Chao also urged the DPP government to work toward opening direct links.

According to Chao, the group's air cargo park will comprise five major complexes: an air cargo terminal; a business headquarters building; an international logistics center; a warehouse-office building and a value-added park.

Ho yesterday said the park's status as a free trade zone would be a big attraction to multinationals.

"The free-trade zone allows free flow of talent, capital and cargo," Ho said.

In the free-trade zone, business people require no visa to visit and no foreign capital controls will be imposed, the vice chairwoman said.

She also said that tailor-made services will be provided in the trade zone, which will help build up the nation's economic competitiveness while differentiating it from China's low-cost, mass production.

Chao said that Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) may be the park's first client, since Far Glory Air Cargo Terminal Co (遠翔空儲) already handles Quanta's air cargo.
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