Construction on a new commercial port on the frontline island of Kinmen took a step forward yesterday as a British firm began demining work at the planned construction site.
Bactec International Ltd, a British commercial demining company which won the NT$7.41 million contract to clean up landmines in the planned site for the Shuitou merchant port, held a press conference early yesterday morning to explain its plan for operating in the coming months.
PHOTO: WU CHENG-TING, TAIPEI TIMES
In the company of senior officials of the harbor affairs department of the Kinmen County Government, two Bactec executives -- Jon Morrison and Chas Reid -- also briefed nearby residents on the security measures to be taken during the demining operations.
According to the Bactec executives, the Shuitou demining work will be completed in 200 days so that construction on the new merchant port can start as originally scheduled.
The 8,400m2 coastal region reserved for the Shuitou port project was extensively mined in the 1950s when the confrontation between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait was at its peak. Although cross-strait tension has gradually eased in recent years, the landmines, buried deep underground, have continued to pose a threat to residents in the area and constitutes an obstacle to the construction of the new port.
With the consent of military authorities, the Kinmen County Government held an international open tender last year to pick a qualified demining company to help clean up landmines in the Shuitou area. The 10-year-old Bactec, which has UN and EU licenses for handling explosive materials and devices, beat three other British firms and a South African competitor to win the contract.
Morrison said Bactec staff are mainly retired British and Zimbabwe military servicemen and have more than 10 years of demining experience. In the past, Bactec had helped clean up a military shooting range in Hsinchu County and just completed demining work in the vicinity of Kinmen's Tashan power plant.
Morrison headed a 10-member technical team began to install warning signs and other security measures in the Shuitou area Tuesday. The demining project is scheduled to be completed by the end of June.
Kinmen County officials urged local residents to follow all security directives to avoid accidents.
Construction of the Shuitou merchant port is part of the Kinmen County Government's preparations for the start of the "small three links" (
According to the plan, the project may be expanded in the future, including an expansion to allow Kinmen and Matsu to serve as passenger and cargo transshipment centers between Taiwan and China. Construction of the Shuitou port is designed to serve that goal.
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