Lawmakers from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and a group of flood victims from Kaohsiung yesterday filed complaints with the Control Yuan against Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) of the Democratic Progressive Party, accusing her of neglecting her duties and allowing floods caused by Typhoon Fanapi to sweep the city on Sept. 19.
Speaking at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan before they headed to the government’s top watchdog agency, KMT legislators Chiu Yi (邱毅), Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) and Lin Tsang-min (林滄敏), as well as several Kaohsiung City councilors led by May Zai-hsin (梅再興) of the KMT, said that Chen should be held accountable for the disaster.
The group accused Chen and other city government officials of neglecting the city’s sewer system construction, failing to clean drainage ditches, dredging rivers and maintaining flood prevention facilities, which they said were the main causes of the massive flooding in the city.
Chiu accused the Kaohsiung City Government of misusing flood-prevention budgets for public relations purposes, adding that city authorities were also guilty of failing to respond in time to a central government request to dig detention basins and clean up blocked lakes.
Control Yuan member Tu Shan-liang (杜善良) received the complaint yesterday, saying the Control Yuan would conduct an investigation into the case.
Asked by KMT city councilors at Kaohsiung City Council, Chen said she would accept a Control Yuan probe. She added the city government is seeking cooperation with National Cheng Kung University’s -disaster-prevention center to better improve the city’s flood prevention systems.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
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A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it