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.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
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