The Executive Yuan passed a resolution yesterday to carry out 10 major infrastructure projects that it had selected for immediate implementation under the direct supervision of the four ministers without portfolio.
Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said after hearing a briefing on the plan that the 10 infrastructure projects, including a mass rapid transit system connecting Taipei and Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan County, would be carried out as scheduled.
“It is also anticipated that the development of these infrastructure projects will help rev up the slumping domestic economy and boost employment,” Liu said.
The MRT system connecting Taipei Railway Station and Taoyuan airport is expected to reduce travel time between the two places by some 35 minutes from the current hour or so.
The plans call for providing convenient transit services for 200,000 travelers to and from the airport as well as commuters who work at the airport.
Another project — an expansion of Kaohsiung Harbor, the largest seaport in Taiwan — is expected to create 27,000 jobs and generate business worth NT$39.4 billion (US$1.2 billion) when it is complete.
The project will be a joint venture between the government and the private sector, said Chu Yun-peng (朱雲鵬), one of the four ministers without portfolio who will be in charge of the projects.
The other three ministers without portfolio are Tsai Hsung-hsiung (蔡勳雄), Chang Jin-fu (張進福) and Ovid Tzeng (曾志朗).
Other infrastructure projects approved in the resolution include the development of new highways, renovation of cities and industrial zones, rebuilding of old bridges, flood prevention projects, revamping old school buildings, streamlining sewage systems and improving rural villages, the plan states.
The budget for the 10 projects will require legislative approval, although the Executive Yuan didn’t specify yesterday how much these projects would cost the government.
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