The Council for Economic Planning and Development yesterday approved a two-stage plan by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to build a 13.99km light-rail transit system by the end of 2023 to provide transportation for people living in Tamhai New Town (淡海新市鎮) in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Tamsui District.
“The system is expected to cost NT$15.31 billion (US$525.98 million) and will generate NT$14.16 billion in revenue 30 years after its completion,” said Chung Wen-li (鍾維力), the deputy chief engineer of the ministry’s High Speed Rail Bureau, at a press conference.
Chung added that it is still too early to tell how many jobs the project would create.
The first phase of construction, which will begin this year and is to be completed by 2018, includes 14 stations along the Green Mountain Route and the part of the Blue Sea Route that links the Green Mountain Route to Tamsui Fisherman’s Wharf, the council said.
The second phase of construction is to include six stations along the Blue Sea Route, linking Tamsui Mass Rapid Transit Station to the wharf.
The population of Tamhai New Town is currently 16,000 and the bureau estimated that it would grow to 120,000 by 2041. The system is designed to accommodate the projection of a 120,000-strong population.
The central government is to provide NT$1.67 billion to fund the project, with the Construction and Planning Agency to provide NT$7.09 billion and the New Taipei City Government to provide NT$6.55 billion, Chung said.
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce