The New Taipei City (新北市) Government yesterday pledged to continue its plans to construct a Minsheng-Xizhi line of the Taipei mass rapid transit (MRT) system despite the plan being rejected by the central government.
The city government said it would provide further evidence of the plan’s viability.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications rejected the project on Feb. 16, saying the city government had failed to provide estimates of the external benefits of the MRT line, such as urban renewal, land development and increased revenue.
The city government will re-examine the project and try to raise its self-liquidating ratio by 2 to 3 percentage points from about 30 percent to meet the ministry’s requirements, acting commissioner of the city’s Transportation Bureau Simon Chao (趙紹廉) said.
“We will never give up on the Minsheng-Xizhi Line,” he said, adding that the project is a crucial part of New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) political platform.
It would be the first line to be built under the newly sworn-in Chu and is expected to begin at Dadaocheng Station beneath Minsheng West Road in Taipei City and extend beneath the Keelung River to Neihu District.
The total length of the line will be 17.52km, with 15 stations and one depot, to be built at a cost of NT$42.2 billion (US$1.44 billion).
During his mayoral election campaign last year, Chu proposed extending the MRT system by creating 10 new lines, including three circular routes.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
RSS