Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday called for the establishment of a citizen's alliance to oversee the construction of the Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system, as she considers the construction problematic and an encroachment upon the human rights of the people of Kaohsiung.
The MRT and the various scandals surrounding the project have been a focus of media attention ever since the riot by Thai laborers over their slave-like living conditions. The project is now under judicial investigation for alleged corruption involving several officials.
Lu made the remarks while inspecting the MRT construction site after the ground next to the No.1 station collapsed and caused parts of three residential buildings to tilt and subside by up to 2m on Dec.6, the fourth accident since May.
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
Lu offered her apologies for the accident while appealing to the people of Kaohsiung to stand up and help out in supervising the construction work.
She announced late yesterday while chairing a meeting of the presidential office's advisory committee on human rights that the alliance will be composed of 15 experts -- nine from technical associations and six from academic institutes.
"There will be three missions for the alliance -- to examine incidents and prevent them from happening again, to make suggestions for the MRT construction process, and to analyze whether the construction will negatively influence underground hydrology," she said.
Lu remarked that the MRT construction was another "Kaohsiung Incident," comparing the importance of the project to a major incident in the history of Taiwan's democratic transition.
The original Kaohsiung Incident, which took place on Dec. 10, 1979, was a demonstration organized by opposition politicians and Formosa magazine to commemorate Human Rights Day which eventually turned into a bloody riot and led to the arrest of a group of then political dissidents.
"While the Kaohsiung Incident galvanized the Taiwanese people into political action and forced them to fight for their political and human rights, I hope the problematic MRT construction can encourage residents to defend their daily human rights," Lu said.
"The MRT construction has caused panic for the residents of Kaohsiung who are supposed to lead a life free from terror. I feel sorry about this, and I hope the people can join the citizen's alliance to help oversee the government in the process of the building of the MRT," she said.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei MRT is to begin accepting mobile payment services in the fall, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said on Saturday. When the company finishes the installation of new payment units at ticketing gates in October, MRT passengers can use credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, the operator said. In addition, the MRT would also provide QR payment codes — which would be compatible with Line Pay, Jkopay, iPass Money, PXPay Plus, EasyWallet, iCash Pay, Taiwan Pay and Taishin Pay — to access the railway system. Currently, passengers can access the Taipei MRT by buying a single-journey token or using EasyCard,
RSS