The special act on the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program yesterday cleared a third reading at the legislature, with lawmakers passing a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) motion to adjust the program’s budget from NT$882.49 billion (US$28.93 billion) over eight years to NT$420 billion over four years.
The legislature met in plenary session to review the bill after the DPP caucus on Tuesday made a concession to adjust the program’s budget and time frame during cross-caucus negotiations, ending the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) occupation of the legislative speaker’s podium that began on Monday morning.
The DPP, KMT and People First Party (PFP) caucuses on the same day signed on a DPP motion to divide the program into two stages of four years each, with a NT$420 billion special budget for stage one.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Budget requests for the second stage are to be delivered to the legislature for review with the proviso that its size and time frame does not exceed the first budget.
The motion added three projects — establishing friendly nursing rooms in response to low birth rates; measures to ensure food safety; and nurturing talent and boosting employment — to the five projects outlined by the Executive Yuan: Rail construction, digital infrastructure, “green” energy, urban-rural development and aquatic infrastructure.
The National Development Council is to oversee the program, while Cabinet-level agencies are to be responsible for planning budgets for projects outlined in the program and local governments entrusted with a project should plan budgets accordingly, the motion said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Central government agencies must conduct environmental impact assessments, and viability and cost-effectiveness plans, and submit the reports to the Executive Yuan for approval before a budget is allocated.
The debt ceiling for the overall spending of the entire program is set at 15 percent of the government’s annual expenditure, in accordance with the Public Debt Act (公共債務法).
Should a specific project run under budget, the excess funds should be returned to the central government, the motion said.
A draft article — proposed in response to New Power Party (NPP) and KMT demands — which says the Control Yuan and concerned agencies should punish officials found to be involved in illegal activity that causes a project to fall behind the 80 percent completed mark was also passed yesterday.
Land expropriation carried out for a project must be done according to due procedure on the condition that it is necessary and it serves the public interest.
The council should regularly update the progress of the projects on the Executive Yuan’s Web site.
Citing the low utilization rate of the Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system, KMT legislators criticized the government’s plan to dole out large sums — previously about NT$420 billion — to construct railway systems, prompting a war of words with the DPP caucus.
“The MRT might be taken for granted by Taipei residents, but for people living in the south of the nation it has remained a luxury,” DPP Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said, adding that a MRT system should not be a privilege of Taipei residents.
“The final version of the bill was rendered in response to overwhelming public pressure and strong criticism,” KMT Legislator Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) said.
With budget proposals set to be reviewed by the legislature next week, the DPP had better be prudent over its budget allocation to avoid triggering a backlash, she said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique