Vice Economic Affairs Minister Hou Ho-shong (侯和雄) yesterday gave his word that he would assist Penghu in soliciting government subsidies to improve water quality on the outlying county.
Hou made the remarks while inspecting the water and power facilities in Penghu along with Commission of National Corporations executive director Wu Fong-sheng (吳豐盛).
Hou was confident that Taiwan Power Co and Taiwan Water Corp could continue providing the same quality service to the outlying islands as Taiwan proper uses despite losing money every year in Penghu.
He said his trip was mainly to learn more about Penghu's energy supply-and-demand situation and to find out what assistance Taipower and Taiwan Water Corp needed.
Taiwan Water Corp's Penghu branch said that the company loses NT$200 million (US$5.79 million) a year on the island and suggested that the Ministry of Economic Affairs provide subsidies. In addition, quality improvement work at six water purification plants in several Penghu villages will require NT$330 million in funds.
Hou promised to report the matter to Minister of Economic Affairs Ho Mei-yueh (何美玥).
He also praised Taipower's Penghu branch for providing a steady supply of electricity despite losing money. He especially lauded its energy conservation efforts which have been rated the best in the nation.
Penghu could also strengthen its efforts in employing alternative sources of energy, such as wind power, tidal and solar power, Hou said, adding that the ministry will assist in installing solar power collection equipment.
Hou also inspected a seawater desalination plant, saying that Penghu could serve as a model for the rest of the Taiwan, noting that the government is currently studying the feasibility of setting up a desalination plant in Taoyuan to solve the county's persistent water shortage problem once and for all.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater