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Lawmakers unite behind airport upgrade proposal

Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng, second left, and Taoyuan County Commissioner Chu Li-lun, center, place candles on a cake in the legislature yesterday promoting a proposal to upgrade Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. PHOTO: CNA

An ambitious project to upgrade Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport into an "air city" will make Taiwan a more competitive and attractive transport hub and business destination, supporters of the proposal said yesterday.

Despite the partisan atmosphere of the legislature, 113 lawmakers from the four largest parties signed a petition in favor of the bill even before the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport special statute was sent to the Legislative Yuan for consideration yesterday afternoon.

Taoyuan County Commissioner Chu Li-lun (朱立倫) told a news conference at the Legislative Yuan that he hoped the statute would pass during this legislative session, even though it is an election year.

"We cannot ignore important issues pertaining to the economic development of this country just because it is an election year," Chu said. "This project is related to the long-term competitiveness of Taiwan."

A number of legislators joined Chu in rooting for the project at yesterday's press conference.

"All the foreign visitors who come to this country will have to pass through this place," Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yang Li-huan (楊麗環) said. "We don't want their first impression of Taiwan to be a slow slog through an aging airport."

A major overhaul and expansion of the once-proud airport is long overdue, Chu said, adding that the 28-year-old airport had been left behind by bigger, newer, better managed and more multifunctional "air cities" such as Korea's Incheon International Airport, the US' Dallas International Airport and the Netherland's Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

"Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport can no longer be considered a modern airport," he said. "Taiwan cannot wait."

Chu said that he first hoped to launch a campaign to revamp the aging airport by working with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC), but he found that the sweeping changes he envisioned conflicted with several statutes.

As an example, Chu said the "air city" would offer foreign visitors visa-free stays in the airport complex, which is against immigration statutes. Changing regulations would allow businesspeople to attend meetings at the airport's future conference hall, play golf and shop for a few days without the hassle of applying for a visa, Taoyuan County Tourism Promotion Bureau Director-General Chen Kuo-jun (張國君) said.

"We have a lot of businessmen flying to L.A. from Delhi via Taipei," Chen said. "Perhaps some of them would like to extend their stay for a couple of days, but they don't because they can't do that without a visa."

Chen said that 70 percent of revenue generated by the Dallas International Airport does not come from flights but rather from the airport's additional facilities and businesses.

"Private investors are eager to get in on the project," he said.

Chu estimated that the Taoyuan Air City project would attract NT$1.2 trillion (US$36.9 billion) in investment, create 80,000 jobs and eventually pull in revenues of NT$600 billion a year.

As with Incheon, Schiphol and other "air cities" abroad, the Taoyuan Air City project would be a public-private collaboration with an emphasis on attracting outside investors to launch their own projects.

"Right now the airport is run by bureaucrats. The first thing we need to do is staff it with professionals," Chu said. "As airport services become increasingly privatized, we are going to see a big improvement in customer service and its appearance very quickly."
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