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Minister denies rejecting funding for nuclear plant

The government has never rejected any budget application for the construction of Taiwan's Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, the Executive Yuan said yesterday.

"We are reviewing and considering the latest budget application for the construction, which is for NT$54.3 billion (US$1.7 billion), . We haven't rejected any budget application, so the construction is on schedule," Government Information Office Minister and Cabinet Spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said yesterday.

Cheng made the remarks in response to reporters' enquiries on a story published by the local Chinese-language newspaper the China Times yesterday.

The story reported that "the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant will be interrupted by the end of May because the remaining NT$5 billion budget will be used up by then." Cheng yesterday said that the construction budget for the power plant was divided into several segments.

"It means that the contractor will not ask for the total cost of construction. Instead, it files applications requesting funding period by period as the construction is undertaken," Cheng said.

The minister said the remaining budget will not be used up before July. However, the Cabinet will definitely finish its reviewing and consideration of further funding allowances before current allocated funds are used up, he added.

"I think that the press is again mistaken. A business task force led by Vice Premier Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is currently evaluating the application. When the task force decides the application is reasonable and necessary, and there is no nuclear security concern, the budget will be approved," Cheng said.

The Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is located in Gongliao Township (貢寮), Taipei County, approximately 40km from Taipei City.

The construction of the plant began in 1993 and was scheduled for completion in July, 2009. The government has to date spent a total of NT$140.4 billion on its construction. In 1999, Su, who was then Taipei County commissioner, asked Taiwan Power Co to suspend the construction of the plant for two years as a punishment because of accusations of environmental devastation in its construction.

Information from the Cabinet showed that an estimated NT$243 billion was needed to complete the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, making it the most expensive nuclear power plant in the world.
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