Taiwan's Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) yesterday urged the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to implement the Cabinet's public investment package of NT$810 billion.
Originally, the package was to be included in the budget for fiscal year 2002. But to stimulate Taiwan's slowing economy as well as ease the rising unemployment rate, the Cabinet decided to delay the date.
The Executive Yuan has readied the package for implementation this year. The package-financed investment projects will, according to the Cabinet, create at least 40,000 job opportunities.
Chang said the ministry's performance in the past year ending with the anniversary of President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) inauguration, was reasonable. The premier was pleased with the ministry's promotion of tourism, its liberalization of the telecom sector and its handling of the dispute over the transfer of managerial authority for Kaohsiung Harbor. The latter is to be transferred from the central government to the city government.
But Chang said the ministry is obliged to proceed even further. The premier, while paying a visit to the ministry, emphasized that "almost half of the investments in the NT$810 billion package go to this ministry."
"The ministry must, therefore, put more effort into being a leader in the implementation of the package," he said. "This will not only help ease the depressed economy, but is also vital for the country's long-term prosperity."
The ministry is responsible for public investment projects that cost more than 47 percent of the NT$810 billion infrastructure budget.
Projects to be financed by the package include the upgrading of infrastructure in metropolitan Taichung and Kaohsiung. The two cities, together with Taipei, are also to be equipped with harbors and airports to facilitate international transportation.
To achieve this goal, the ministry will accelerate its planning in the upgrading of Taipei Harbor, the Taoyuan transport area, Taichung International Airport and a new harbor in Kaohsiung.
Transportation networks are also emphasized in the investment package to link all of Taiwan in order to facilitate travel over the island. Therefore, highways and expressways linking the east to the west coast and those to northern Taipei, high-speed railroads, urban express railways and expansion of the current highways have been earmarked as priority projects.
The installation of a high-speed IT network and the establishment of an "e-government" will also be financed by the package.
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