The Executive Yuan said yesterday that Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC, 台灣高鐵) should consider cutting the salary of high-ranking officials whose job descriptions do not have anything to do with passenger safety.
During a question-and-answer session with legislators, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said the company’s high-ranking foreign technicians should still be entitled to “slightly higher salaries” than their Taiwanese counterparts because Taiwanese officials might be unfamiliar with how to operate the system, but that new THSRC president Ou Chin-der (歐晉德) and his managerial team should bear in mind that the public might react negatively if the company maintained several “fat cats.”
Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chih-kuo (毛治國) said the ministry would allow Ou time to deal with the company’s “fat cats,” but that Ou had been given more “flexibility” on the salaries of the company’s foreign managers.
“He should deal with the salaries of Taiwanese officials as soon as possible. He must do so to improve the company’s image,” Mao said.
Ou replaced former THSRC chairwoman Nita Ing (殷琪) on Tuesday, ushering in a new era for the company in which the government would play a dominant role in deciding the company’s boardroom lineup and management.
The company has paid-up capital of NT$105.3 billion (US$3.2 billion), but was reportedly NT$11 billion in the red last year and its accumulated debts amounted to NT$70.2 billion.
Ou said on Thursday that he had to deal with the salary issue to improve the company’s image, but hoped he would be given a year to 18 months to handle the issue.
Mao said, however, that Ou should resolve the matter within a shorter period of time.
Mao said the ministry would help THSRC pay off its debts while helping to find new sources of funding. He promised to make details of the company’s finances public by the end of November.
The premier also vowed to review the salaries of high-ranking officials at other government-funded organizations.
Meanwhile, Wu dismissed media speculation that the government was considering increasing taxes.
Wu said the government would not raise tax rates unless the public reached a consensus on the matter when the economy recovers.
“I’m particularly concerned about the livelihoods of ordinary people,” Wu 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,
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