■ Transportation
TRTC celebrates 10 years
To celebrate its 10th anniversary, the Taipei
Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) yesterday opened a 24-hour customer service line on 2181-2345 and installed two high-resolution, 6m-diameter electronic displays at Zhongxiao Fuxing Station's No. 2 exit for screening passenger information and commercials. The TRTC was set up to manage the MRT system in 1994, with the Muzha line the first to carry passengers in 1996. Over
the following four years, the Tamsui, Zhonghe, Xindian and Banqiao-Nangang lines opened for business. The MRT system has carried more than 1.6 billion passengers and will reach 2 billion passengers next year, TRTC chairman Richard Chen (陳樁亮) said at an anniversary function yesterday. Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday praised the TRTC for helping make the MRT indispensable to the city
and encouraged the TRTC to provide even better service to customers in the next decade.
■ Hakka Affairs
Web site launched
The Council of Hakka Affairs launched a new online community for Hakka groups and communities yesterday. According to council representatives, the Web
site, Hakka Culture Club (www.land.ihakka.net),
will host free Web pages
for Hakka-related groups.
The council hopes that the
Web site will encourage interaction between Hakka communities and groups
and increase Hakka cultural pride. In addition to free Web page hosting services, the site features cultural news and event listings. The council plans to begin a series of promotional events for the Web site soon, including discussions on culture and Web page signup activities.
■ Tourism
Chiayi farm changes hands
The Veterans Affairs Commission's Chiayi Farm will be transferred to the private Janfushan Fancy World Group tomorrow to begin commercial operations under a refurbish-operate-transfer (ROT) formula. The farm in Tapu township is
the first of the commission's farms to be transformed into an eco-tourism park under the ROT formula, which allows private business groups to invest in renovating and operating government-owned facilities for a specified period of time before returning
them to the government, a spokesman said yesterday. The European-style Chiayi Farm, located near the Tsengwen Reservoir, was built in 1952. Both late president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) and former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝)
have stayed at the farm's presidential villa. The farm was gradually transformed into a recreational center
for civil servants and public school teachers in the 1990s. The February transfer was
in line with the government's policy of making better
use of state properties, the commission said.
■ Diplomacy
New post for MAC official
Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Vice Chairman Liu
Te-shun (劉德勳) was named Straits Exchange Foundation secretary-general and vice chairman by the foundation's board yesterday afternoon. Liu will be the first appointee since 1991 to serve in both organizations simultaneously. "Cross-strait negotiations should be resumed without conditions attached to
any topic and without any presumptions," Liu said. He said that his position at both organizations would allow them to function with greater coordination than before. Foundation chairman Koo Chen-fu (辜振甫) also pointed to the closer links between the organizations that
would result from Liu's appointment.
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