Recent improvements to the quality of tap water in Kaohsiung are "belated justice" for residents, President Chen Shui-bian (
At the opening ceremony of three new water-treatment plants held yesterday in Chengching Lake, Kaohsiung County, Chen said that the achievement was the first step toward balancing national development between the south and north.
"From now on, Kaohsiung residents can wipe away their tears, embrace good water and enjoy the belated justice," Chen said.
Chen said that Vice Premier Lin Hsin-yi (
"I was initially worried about the obstacles we encountered," Chen said yesterday. "Fortunately, our determination conquered the seemingly impossible."
The government allocated a NT$15 billion in March this year for the three-year project. NT$4 billion remains unspent.
Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Yi-fu (
Major tasks included relocating water intakes to the Kaoping River (
Lin said that all tasks were completed two months early.
Premier Yu Shyi-kun, who stood alongside Chen at the opening ceremony, stressed that determination was the decisive factor.
Yu said People First Party Chairman James Soong (
For decades, water suppliers added excessive chlorine to disinfect raw water from the Kaoping River, which was polluted from both illegal dumping and waste water discharged from pig farms.
Since the discovery in July 2000 that toxic solvents were illegally being dumped in the Chishan River, which flows into Kaoping River, most residents have complained about the water's chemical odor and used it only for rinsing.
Most residents buy bottled spring water for drinking and cooking.
Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (
In the past three years, the Cabinet's Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) relocated 470,000 pigs raised on farms along the Kaoping River, effectively cutting excrement pollutants discharged from farms.
Meanwhile, 2,000 residents from 12 townships in Tainan County yesterday demonstrated at the Nanhua Reservoir, saying that local development had been restrained for decades in order to protect water supplies. Some demonstrators jumped into the reservoir to express their and anger.
Tainan County Commissioner Wu Chien-pao (
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
RSS