The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) yesterday approved the construction of the Danhai Light Rail Line after the Taipei County Government managed to increase the project’s self-liquidation ratio (SLR) to 64 percent.
SLR is an indication of whether a government has sufficient liquid assets or net capital to liquidate in an orderly fashion.
The Council for Economic Planning and Development approved the project, officially titled “the Tamsui MRT extension line,” last week.
The ministry had previously rejected it because of its low SLR. Ministry data showed that the project originally had an SLR of 36 percent and the Taipei County Government had agreed to provide only 15 percent of the construction costs.
However, the SLR was raised to 64 percent after the Ministry of the Interior decided to appropriate NT$3.367 billion (US$106 million) from the New Township Development Fund to fund construction.
Meanwhile, the county government also agreed to raise its share of the costs to 30 percent while allocating NT$1 billion to cover potential financial losses at the initial stage of operations when the project is complete.
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