Opposition legislators condemned Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday for blaming an accident at one of the city's mass rapid transit (MRT) system construction sites on the legislature.
"Hsieh is being irresponsible. He wants to exceed his responsibilities. The accident with the MRT was simply a construction mishap, and has nothing to do with the budget," Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wang Chung-yu (
Wang was the first chairman of the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corporation.
"Hsieh said that if the budget does not pass soon, then there would be more accidents at construction sites. If that's really the case, then the authorities should halt construction immediately and Hsieh should resign to take responsibility," Wang said.
Allotments for the Taipei and Kaohsiung MRT projects have been included in the budget for the 10 key infrastructure projects, estimated at NT$500 billion over five years.
The opposition has demanded the Cabinet separate the MRT budget from other projects and handle it according to debt-ceiling regulations because they entail ongoing expenses.
The Executive Yuan and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus, however, insisted that the projects should proceed together as part of one budgetary package.
"This year the budgets for the Taipei and Kaohsiung MRTs have been prepared within the NT$500 billion construction package. The budget still hasn't been passed, and the Kaohsiung City Government is already facing financial problems," DPP caucus whip Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said, urging opposition caucuses to change their minds and agree to the budget.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
RSS