While funding for Kaohsiung City's long-awaited mass rapid transit system will have another chance of receiving approval this month, the prospects don't seem to be getting any better for Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (
Early signs already indicate that Hsieh's budget will be rejected.
The Kaohsiung City Council plans to begin discussing the bud-get for the mass rapid transit system at the committee level on Nov. 11, with the final vote scheduled for Nov. 29.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG TAIPEI TIMES
If this happens, the Executive Yuan will almost certainly cut its funding for the project, dramatically reducing the staff of the Kaohsiung City Government's Department of Rapid Transit Sys-tems.
The Executive Yuan is losing patience with the department, which currently employs 123 people who are waiting for construction to begin.
According to statistics, the Executive Yuan has agreed to fund 69 percent of the proposed NT$195.2 billion budget, so lack of central government support will effectively kill the project.
There are other reasons why this is probably Hsieh's last chance to build the mass transit system.
While real estate prices are relatively low at the moment, they are expected to rise soon, increasing the cost of the land needed for stations along the line.
Furthermore, Taoyuan, Tai-chung and Tainan are waiting on the central government for approval of their own mass rapid transit systems.
A source inside the Department of Rapid Transit Systems said: "If the Kaohsiung City Council cannot pass the budget this month, the chance may go to another city."
Sources close to Hsieh say that if construction does not begin within two years, he will probably see out his term of office and step down.
The city council's main objection to the budget is that it is too vague.
"The information provided by the city government is not clear enough. The budget is more like a rough draft than a financial plan,"said Hong Mao-jun (
This is why Hsieh's first budget was rejected in June and, according to Hong, there has been no improvement since.
In the face of opposition from the KMT councilor, Hsieh is going on the offensive, claiming that such criticism is politically motiva-ted.
If Hsieh, the first DPP mayor of Kaohsiung, succeeds in building the line where his KMT predecessors failed, his re-election is almost assured, and the KMT will find it difficult to regain a foothold in Taiwan's second largest city.
Hsieh says this is why local KMT councilors and the central government are against his plan.
However, Hsieh also has enemies within his own party.
Kuo Wen-cheng (
As the struggle becomes more intense, Hsieh has turned to the media to publicize his cause.
He has vocally criticized the city council and the central government in the press for using opposition to the project as a weapon against his opponents.
Hsieh has been vigorously canvassing city councilors for support. Rumors of votes being exchanged for favors have risen in turn.
It has been said that Hsieh is giving administrative positions in City Hall to relatives of city councilors in return for their support.
It is very difficult to tell what the result of the Nov. 29 vote will be. Everything depends upon what happens during the next few weeks.
Most Kaohsiung residents, who have to fight their way through the rush hour traffic twice a day, shake their heads at the situation.
"Taipei has an MRT. Why not Kaohsiung?" one resident asked.
Although many are behind Hsieh and the project, after 10 years of waiting through five different administrations, the public is resigned to the fact that he too may fail.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he