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.
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