Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) said yesterday that she was seeking central government support for seven major construction projects in the city, including extending the Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system to neighboring counties.
Chen disclosed that she had handed a letter to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Saturday in which she urged the central government to help Kaohsiung with its construction projects.
The Kaohsiung MRT system has two lines. The 28.3km Red Line has its northernmost station at Chiaotou (橋頭), Kaohsiung County, and terminates at Linhai Industrial District in the south of the city, connecting with Kaohsiung International Airport.
The east-west Orange Line is 14.4km long and runs from National Sun Yat-sen University in the west to Taliao (大寮), Kaohsiung County, in the east.
The central government has already included a plan to extend the Red Line further north to Luchu Township (路竹), Kaohsiung County, and the Orange Line east to Pingtung County in its “iTaiwan” 12 public infrastructure projects. The 12 projects are projected to cost NT$3.99 trillion (US$122 billion) over eight years between this year and 2016.
Saying that the Cabinet is working on another plan to spend an extra NT$500 billion over a four-year period on expanded public construction projects, Chen suggested that the Kaohsiung MRT system’s extension plan and a Kaohsiung airport cargo transport system improvement plan be included in the new program, so that the nation’s second-largest city would have a full-fledged mass transport system.
Other major construction projects for which Chen is seeking the central government’s help include a plan to move all the railway lines in Kaohsiung underground, a plan to build a music venue in the Kaohsiung Harbor area, a proposed highway to relieve the traffic caused by the High Speed Rail in Zuoying District (左營) and a plan to improve access roads to the city’s harbor.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
RSS