Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) reaffirmed the government’s target of increasing the rate of sewage drainage by 3 percent a year, as he urged officials to come up with measures to maintain the goal, Executive Yuan spokesperson Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) said yesterday.
Jiang issued the directive after Deputy Minister of the Interior Lin Tzu-ling (林慈玲) presented a briefing at a Cabinet meeting on a project to expand the sewage network.
According to the briefing, the proportion of households connected to the sewage system was 32.1 percent last year, an increase of 9.6 percent from 2009.
In terms of the percentage of the population served by waste water treatment plants, the ratio rose to 62.99 percent last year, from 48.66 percent in 2009, the briefing said.
The briefing showed that the government has achieved the 3 percent goal, as stated in President Ma Ying-jeou’s 2008 campaign platform, over the past four years.
Lin said that the government invested NT$162.5 billion (US$5.44 billion) over the past 16 years in increasing the number of households connected to the sewage system from about 3 percent in 1992 to about 20 percent in 2008, while an estimated NT$700 billion would be required to reach 100 percent coverage.
In a related development, Jiang instructed the Ministry of the Interior to study the possibility of reclaiming water from wastewater treatment plants and reusing the treated water as an alternative source in case of a water shortage, Cheng said.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
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