Government officials yesterday denied a media report that the plan to build a bridge linking Kinmen and Little Kinmen was a precursor to a bridge linking those islands and Xiamen City in China’s Fujian Province.
A story in the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) said the Kinmen Bridge (金門大橋) proposal suggested the possibility of building a Kinmen-Xiamen bridge because two lanes of the four-lane bridge — set aside for pedestrians, bicycles or electric scooters — could be used by vehicles when traffic volume increases or when a bridge to Xiamen is built.
The proposal, drawn up by the Kinmen County Government, was approved at Thursday’s Cabinet meeting.
Minister without Portfolio James Hsueh (薛承泰), Kinmen County Commissioner Li Wo-shi (李沃士), Vice Minister of Transportation and Communications William Chen (陳威仁) and National Freeway Bureau Director-General Tseng Dar-jen (曾大仁) told a press conference that the NT$5.7 billion (US$177.18 million) Kinmen Bridge had nothing to do with the Kinmen-Xiamen Bridge.
“There are some Kinmen residents who would like to see a bridge linking Kinmen and Xiamen. But that is their dream and not the government’s policy. These are two different things,” he said.
The county government only mentioned the Kinmen-Xiamen Bridge, known as the Kindeng Bridge (金嶝大橋) by Kinmen residents, in the proposal because the “[Kindeng Bridge] is very important to the long-term development of Kinmen,” Li said.
Regarding the four-lane design of the bridge, Chen said the design was to meet the minimum requirement for width of cross-sea bridges to maintain stability.
Construction is expected to start at the end of this year.
Officials said the bridge would benefit area tourism and dramatically decrease travel time between the two islands, which are currently only joined by ferries.
The Kinmen Bridge is expected to be completed by 2015. Preliminary plans show it will be 5.34km long, with a 4.78km stretch built over water.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chih-kuo (毛治國) told reporters on his way to the legislature that the bridge would do more for tourism than transportation. The bridge would become the nation’s “golden gate,” he said.
During an August 2008 visit to Kinmen, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) asked the Council for Economic Planning and Development to draw up an assessment report on the Kindeng Bridge.
The plan was later called off.
Then-premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) approved a medium and long-term development proposal for Kinmen last July, which put off the Kindeng Bridge for the moment.
Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) told reporters last December that the Kindeng Bridge was not appropriate at this time because it was a politically sensitive matter.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators panned the Kinmen Bridge proposal yesterday as “waste” and “useless,” questioning its hefty price tag because the total population of the two islands is only about 65,000. They said the bridge would cost about NT$88,000 per person.
“[On Thursday] the Taichung County Government announced that it needed four cleaners and more than 400 people applied … Faced with such [economic] problems, is this bridge really economically viable?” DPP Legislator William Lai (賴清德) said.
Nationwide there are 37 bridges listed in critical condition that have not been repaired, Lai said, adding that the government should focus on more immediate problems.
DPP caucus whip Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) called the Kinmen Bridge a “necessary tool in Ma’s plans for eventual unification” because it could eventually pave the way for a “Kinmen-Xiamen bridge.”
Chai said both bridges would be “a waste of taxpayers’ money.”
Any bridge linking Taiwan with China would result in an additional defense burden for the armed forces, Chai said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG
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