The Cabinet yesterday approved a proposal that would earmark NT$50 billion (US$1.56 billion) to a six-year plan to resolve a sedimentation problem plaguing Zengwun Reservoir (曾文水庫), Nanhua Reservoir (南化水庫) and Wushantou Reservoir (烏山頭水庫).
Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) told a press conference following the Cabinet meeting that the three major dams in southern Taiwan were threatened by a significant increase in silt deposits after Typhoon Morakot hit the country last August.
The Water Resources Agency (WRA) said that 91 million cubic meters had accumulated in Zengwun Reservoir and 36 million cubic meters in Nanhua Reservoir after the typhoon, which together had amounted to the total storage capacity of Nanhua Reservoir.
In the Wushantou Reservoir, silt deposits have filled about 44 percent of its storage capacity, it said.
Shih said the draft statute drawn by the ministry would impose a series of prohibitions on development to preserve and restore the upstream part of the watershed areas of the three reservoirs.
If the legislature passes the bill, any new projects to build sediment storage dams should be compatible with the Aboriginal Basic Act (原住民基本法), and these areas would be made off limits to any road construction or expansion projects.
The Cabinet yesterday also approved a proposal by the Sports Affairs Council to promote baseball, which is reeling from a game-fixing scandal involving several players from different teams.
Prosecutors on Wednesday indicted 24 professional baseball players over their alleged involvement in match-fixing scandals.
Sports Affairs Council Minister Tai Hsia-ling (戴遐齡) said the council and the Ministry of Education had proposed not appointing players found guilty of involvement in gambling scandals as teachers or coaches in schools, as well as banning them from playing in the amateur baseball league for life.
Tai said that prosecutors would be stationed in playing fields when the baseball season starts late next month to prevent gangsters from influencing the games.
She added that the government would soon amend the Sports Lottery Issue Act (運動彩券發行條例) to impose heavier penalties on players involved in gambling scandals.
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
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