DPP legislators yesterday called for a halt to bidding on construction of parts of Taiwan's fourth nuclear power plant (
"Taipower (Taiwan Power Company,
"The company has only completed 10 percent of construction on the project," Lai said. Taipower claims about 30 percent of the entire project has been completed, of which construction is only one part.
"The company should not have spread misinformation such as this to try to have the project continue," Lai said.
Lai yesterday presented a report to the Executive Yuan to highlight what he called, Taipower's misleading claim that it has completed 30 percent of the project, and called for a review of the island's energy policy.
Taipower's estimate of 30 percent completion of the project includes the various other aspects of the plant aside from construction, including bidding and planning. Actual construction was far from 30 percent complete, Lai said.
"The earlier Taipower gives up the project, the less financial loss to taxpayers," Lai said.
However, Taipower officials said that the company has invested NT$43.4 billion in the project and that to halt the project would be a major loss.
"When assessing the project, legislators should have not have separated the construction part from the bidding and planning parts of the project," Lin Chu-wan (
Lin, who firmly believes the project will be seen through, said Taipower would continue bids worth a total of NT$6 billion on main parts of the construction and the establishment of cooling water channels.
"If we stop the bidding process, which is scheduled be completed in the next two months, the plant will not be finished by the scheduled deadline of July, 2005," Lin said, adding that the project was already 1.5 percent behind schedule due to disruption from strong opposition.
"Dealing with problems resultant from halting the project may be challenging," Lin said, noting that private investment accounts for almost half of the project's total financing.
"Financial loss is one thing, international relations is another," Lin said, adding that canceling the project could hurt Taiwan's image abroad.
The government reportedly chose to buy the nuclear power plant facilities from the US, instead of France or Japan out of consideration for military safety and diplomatic relations and offered above-market prices for facilities to ensure its approval in the Legislative Yuan and US government.
Since March 18, when the DPP's Chen Shui-bian (
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
RSS