DPP lashes out at Taipei mayor

In the run-up to the Taipei City mayoral elections at the end of this year, incumbent Mayor Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) relationship with the central government has become increasingly tense as the DPP voices growing criticism of Ma's performance.

Accompanied by Ma and Cabinet Secretary-General Lee Ying-yuan (李應元), Premier Yu Shyi-kun yesterday inspected the Keelung River Improvements Project by helicopter before being briefed on the project.

In his address, Ma said the city government intends to include the relocation of the city's 72-year-old Chungshan Bridge (中山橋) and the realignment of the Neikou (內溝) and Huangkang (磺港) rivers in the budget for the Keelung River project. With the premier looking on, Ma expressed his hope that the city government would be granted a subsidy for dredging the rivers. He added that he had raised this proposal with the Cabinet.

Ma said that the city government will relocate the Chungshan Bridge to reduce the risk of flooding along the Keelung River. He added that the project will take the bridge's cultural value into consideration, as well as the current water-conservation effort.

But Yu replied sternly that if Taipei City needs funding so badly, the mayor should spend more time communicating with the Cabinet.

Yu added that Ma had left the two Cabinet meetings early, which is why the city government's proposals regarding the river-improvement project have not been accepted.

Ma, who is seeking re-election in the year-end mayoral race, explained that he did order other city government officials to explain the proposals when he had to leave the meetings early.

Yu's criticism created embarrassment and Lee -- who serves as Yu's right-hand man and will run on the DPP's ticket to try and take the Taipei mayoralty from Ma -- responded by remaining silent with a smile on his face.

Yu stressed that it is unfair for the outside world to consider the spat over the dredging project as the result of the DPP's electoral campaign against Ma. He said he hoped that Ma could in future express his opinions directly at Cabinet meetings.

Last month, independent lawmaker Sisy Chen (陳文茜) said that the government had political reasons when it denied Ma's requests for NT$1.9 billion for the dredging, while it granted subsidies to Taipei County and Keelung City.

In a move that added fuel to the political flames, DPP lawmakers Liu Shih-fang (劉世芳) and Wang Shu-hui (王淑慧) yesterday criticized Ma for neglecting to replace the city's old water pipes. This partly contributed to recent water contamination that left roughly 300 Taipei residents complaining of diarrhea and vomiting.

Liu said that, in order to improve leaky aqueducts, the Cabinet-level Council for Economic Planning and Development (經建會) granted the Taipei City Government a subsidy of more than NT$3.2 billion after Ma took office in 1998.

Ma only used 45.8 percent of the budget to replace water pipes with, compared with 82.5 percent of the NT$5.9 billion used by his predecessor, Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), to this end.

Wang stressed that the water-rationing scheme has affected residents in both Taipei City and Taipei County -- and it has increased water pollution, causing residents to question the city government's ability to tackle the water problem.