■ Safety
Speed limits to be changed
Speed limits on freeways will be changed starting April 15. The maximum speed limit on all of the Sun Yat-sen freeway will be 100kph, while the limit on the Second Freeway south of the Tucheng Interchange will be increased to 111kph. Limits on other sections of the freeway vary from 90kph to 100kph. The maximum speed limit for trucks will be 90kph. Speed limits on other freeways will also be changed, according to the National Freeway Bureau. Road sections under construction or those near toll stations will have lower speed limits, according to the bureau.
■ Legislature
Military gets purchase OK
The Legislative Yuan's defense committee gave a final green light yesterday to the purchase of 54 US-made AAV7A1RAM/RS armored assault amphibious full-tracked landing vehicles after the US agreed to a price cut. Under an arsenal renovation project codenamed Flying Horse, the marine corps plans to budget a total of NT$6.16 billion (US$177 million) between this year and 2006 to procure the advanced armored vehicles to upgrade its amphibious combat capabilities. The legislature approved the project at its previous session under a condition that the navy negotiate a 20 percent price discount with the US defense contractor. However, after a difficult series of negotiations, the US contractor only agreed to offer a discount of NT$398 million, below the legislature's 20 percent discount target. The navy then sought the defense committee's consent to strike a final deal with the US contractor.
■ Law
Liu's detention extended
The Taipei District Court yesterday granted prosecutors' request to prolong the detention of China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發) chairman Liu Tai-ying (劉泰英) for another two months on charges of corruption and breach of trust. Liu has been detained since Feb. 10 pending an investigation into the Zanadau case -- a land development scandal. The Feb 10th detention was originally set to expire tomorrow. Noting that there are several key potential witnesses yet to report to the court on the case as well as relevant documents that still need to be verified, the court ruled that there is a pressing need to prolong Liu's detention. For his alleged involvement in the Zanadau embezzlement case, Liu was summoned for the first time on Nov. 27 last year.
■ Environment
Water project approved
The Water Resource Agency under the Ministry of Economic Affairs passed a five-year, NT$115.5 billion (US$3.3 billion) water resource project in a review meeting yesterday. The agency said that the project will include seashore and beach protection and plant conservation. Taiwan is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Taiwan Strait, the Bashi Channel and the East China Sea. The project will also include the dredging of major rivers in Taiwan and the betterment of its overall landscape to ensure the safety of the people and their property, as well as the improvement of sewage systems in densely populated urban areas. If the project is passed by the Executive Yuan, it is expected that the government will put in a total cost between 2004 and 2008 to create a Taiwan with beautiful seashores, rivers and regional sewage systems that will take into consideration ecology and combating natural disasters.
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