The Cabinet yesterday called on the Legislative Yuan to expedite cross-party negotiations this legislative session on a special bill for an economy-invigorating, five-year, NT$500 billion (US$15.15 billion) public construction package.
The special bill, proposed by the Cabinet in December, will be put to a vote if negotiations in the legislature have not finished by the end of this month, according to legislative rules.
Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (
"I believe most opposition lawmakers and local officials from the pan-blue alliance support this bill. The problem, however, lies in [Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman] Lien Chan (
If the legislature eventually puts the bill to a vote, Lin said that the Cabinet would offer opposition lawmakers persuasive explanations about the bill to win their support.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus secretary-seneral Lee Chun-yee (
"While some opposition lawmakers have different opinions, I believe they realize that they cannot afford to boycott the five-year plan, many parts of which provisions are local public construction projects designed to boost the regional economy for their constituents," Lee said.
KMT legislative caucus whip Liao Feng-te (廖風德) said that his caucus would not block the five-year plan if its budgetary projections are accurate.
"We wouldn't rule out the possibility of returning the bill, though, if the budget were padded or if the bill violated related laws or regulations," he said.
With the implementation of the plan, the Cabinet hopes to boost the nation's economic growth rate from last year's 3.15 percent to 5 percent this year and cut the jobless rate from last year's 5 percent to 4.5 percent this year. The plan is expected to create 64,000 jobs each year.
The Cabinet hopes to raise the necessary funds by enacting a special law to allow the government to earmark a special budget for the project, which would not count against the amount of money the government is allowed to borrow.
Opposition lawmakers, however, have argued that this funding mechanism is a political gambit aimed at skirting the Budget Law (
The budget for the program, if it is approved by the legislature, will cover five years. The budget for the first year is slated to be NT$93 billion and that for the fifth year is expected to be NT$106 billion, with increases in intervening years.
While the Cabinet envisions borrowing 80 percent, or NT$400 billion, of the total, it hopes to raise the remaining 20 percent, or NT$100 billion, by selling stakes in state-owned businesses, selling tickets for the 2008 exposition and selling gravel excavated from the four artificial lakes that are included in the plan.
Of the NT$500 billion, NT$471.2 billion is reserved for the 10 construction projects; NT$18.7 billion is for interest payments on the NT$400 billion loan; and NT$3 billion is slated for expenses associated with the NT$93-billion sale of stakes in state-run enterprises.
The remaining NT$7 billion is an emergency fund.
The 10 construction projects are to be concentrated in four areas: an NT$212.8 billion sustainable-ecology project, which accounts for 42 percent of the plan's total spending; an NT$107.9 billion international competitiveness project (22 percent); an NT$100.6 billion culture and creativity pro-ject (20 percent); and an NT$50 billion research and development project (10 percent).
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