President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday attended an event in Taipei to promote a planned extension of the city’s mass rapid transit system (MRT) to include Taipei City’s Wanhua (萬華) and Jhonghe (中和), Taipei County.
The event was organized by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Taipei Guest House. Ma and Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) said they held the event to wish residents of the city’s Zhongzheng (中正) and Wanhua districts a happy new year and to celebrate the “dream come true” of the planned Wanda (萬大) line.
The city plans to build the 22km line underground and have four stations in Zhongzheng and Wanhua districts. They are the Roosevelt Road and Nanhai Road, Nanhai Road and Heping W Road, Wanda Road and Xizang Road and Wanda Elementary School stations.
PHOTO: LU CHUN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
The Roosevelt-Nanhai stop will connect the Wanda line with the MRT’s Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station so passengers will be able to transfer to the Danshui, Xindian or Xinyi lines.
Ma greeted about 400 residents from the two districts’ 17 boroughs in Mandarin, Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) and Hakka.
Ma, who lived in the Wanhua District for 11 years, said he had deep feelings for the area. Lin said the MRT Wanda line was the realization of another of Ma’s campaign promises. Ma said he had more election promises that have been put into practice.
Ma said that during his term as Taipei mayor, he had accomplished 93 percent of his campaign goals. As president, Ma said about 22 percent of his campaign promises had been accomplished and that he expected to finish most of them by the time his term ends in 2012, but he added that some projects may need more time.
Lin said residents of the two districts saw a step toward the realization of their dream when the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) gave the NT$89 billion (US$2.78 billion) construction project the go-ahead last month.
“It is a dream come true and another of President Ma’s campaign platforms put into practice,” he said.
Describing Ma as someone “who has affection and faith,” Lin said the president made a tremendous effort to push the project during his stint as Taipei mayor, adding that it was unfortunate he did not obtain much support from the then-Democratic Progressive Party administration.
Lin thanked the Ministry of Transportation and Communications for earmarking NT$600 million before the CEPD approved the project. He also extended his appreciation to the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, which he said allowed the ministry to do so. Lin said that although the project proved that the administration was efficient, but did not promote itself. He urged government agencies to “advertise its achievements and good deeds.”
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) thanked the central government for its support of city policies since Ma took office, saying it made his job easier. With the concerted effort of the central and local governments, Hau said he believed more dreams would come eventually true.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS