"Legislators and the Cabinet have to ask themselves: do they want high speed rail -- and by that I don't mean THSRC, but the railway itself," Chen said.
Ing said that doing business with the government has always been the project's biggest risk. "If, after every change in ruling party, every legislative confrontation between the ruling and opposition parties, the original plan can be abandoned and the government's promises change, then no BOT project will ever be completed."
Ing added that such a sce-nario would result in grave concern among local and foreign investors regarding the risks involved with investing in Taiwan.
"[They] won't be game to invest -- which will impact economic development and then we needn't bother talking about improving Taiwan's so-called international competitiveness."
Under the BOT scheme, THSRC will build the railway and operate it for 35 years, after which time control will pass to the government.
The railway is expected to be completed in 2005. A trip between Taipei and Kaohsiung will take around 90 minutes. It will be the first Japanese-made bullet train in service outside of Japan.
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