Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said yesterday that the Cabinet will set up a special task force to help tackle a host of problems in the nation's first high-speed railway construction project.
Hsieh made the remarks amid rising concerns about whether the nation's long-awaited high-speed railway will open next October as scheduled.
Acknowledging that the high-speed rail construction project has encountered many problems -- including financing, technology as well as legal rights and liabilities incurred by Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) in the course of construction -- Hsieh said that he feels the need to form a special task force to make an overall evaluation and work out response measures.
According to Hsieh, the high-speed rail task force will comprise transportation and financial management experts, as well as consultants familiar with Japanese affairs.
THSRC reportedly has had rifts with Japan-based Taiwan Shinkansen Consortium (TSC), the main contractor of the Taiwan high-speed railway's mechanical and electrical system and the supplier of train carriages.
In addition to helping address any crisis that THSRC may face, Hsieh said the team will also cope with variables that may arise in the future.
The multimillion-dollar railway system is Taiwan's first infrastructure project being built under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model.
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