Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday vowed to turn the Shezidao (社子島) peninsula into Taipei’s Manhattan within 11 years after a long-stalled development project for the area passed the review of the Council for Economic Planning and Development yesterday.
The city government will budget NT$70 billion (US$2.1 billion) over 11 years to develop the 240-hectare area, including flood-prevention construction, new housing projects and recreational facilities.
“The development of Shezidao used to seem like an impossible dream, but now we can finally transform the area... We will turn Shezidao into the Manhattan of Taipei,” Hau told a press conference yesterday at Taipei City Hall.
Ting Yu-chun (丁育群), commissioner of Taipei City’s Department of Urban Development, said the city government will start purchasing land from local residents and begin flood prevention construction as soon as July.
Hau said that the city government would make the interests of the district’s more than 10,000 residents its priority, promising to help them by providing better housing.
The Shezidao peninsula is a low-lying area in Taipei City that suffers from flooding during typhoons, and many illegal remain in the area.
The city government proposed the project to redevelop the area and solve the flooding problem 10 years ago, but it has been stalled because of opposition from Taipei County, which feared that flooding construction work in Shezidao could force the water to flow to low-lying areas in Sanchong (三重) and Lujhou (蘆洲).
Hau said the Taipei County Government presented an urban development project for Sanchong and Lujhou cities to solve any possible flooding.
The city government will conduct an environmental impact assessment for the area while proceeding with the development project, he said.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
RSS