The Taipei City Government yesterday promised to keep more than 200 trees on Xinyi Road amid ongoing construction of the MRT’s Xinyi Line, with Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) vowing to turn Taipei into a greener city by planting more trees to provide shade along major roads.
Taipei City’s Department of Rapid Transit Systems originally planned to remove 286 banyan trees and autumn maple trees in July on part of the Xinyi Road between Zhongshan S Road and Hangzhou S Road for the construction of new bus lanes, but later decided to adjust the location of bus lanes and keep the trees instead.
“We decided to make way for the trees to respect the environment and Xinyi Road will be one of the major roads to have trees lining the sidewalk to provide shade. We will turn Taipei into a city with tree-lined roads and make the city greener,” Hau said yesterday at Taipei City Hall.
Photo: Chen Ching-min, Taipei Times
Department of Rapid Transit Systems Commissioner Jason Lin (林志盈) said the construction of the new bus lanes would still begin in July and the department will also expand the sidewalks and plant more trees along the road.
The construction of the Xinyi Line is scheduled to be completed next year.
Increasing the number of trees in Taipei was one of Hau’s campaign promises last year. To implement the policy, the city government is set to form a task force to discuss the project this week.
Taipei City’s Department of Urban Development said the city has decided to turn Songshan Road into a “scenic boulevard” by expanding the sidewalks and planting trees along the 1km long road.
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
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
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost