Minister of Transportation and Communications Yeh Kuang-shih (葉匡時) yesterday said the ministry hopes that the Airport Rail service can be launched sometime before October next year, adding that even that was a challenging goal.
Yeh made the statement in an interview with Voice of Taipei program host Clara Chou (周玉蔻) in the morning.
The ministry under Yeh’s leadership came under severe criticism recently for failing to meet its self-designated deadlines for major public construction projects it has led, including the Wugu-Yangmei Overpass and the Airport Rail. It was also blamed for traffic congestion on freeways during the Tomb Sweeping holiday last week.
Yeh said that the ministry had already postponed the official launch of the Airport Rail from June this year to October next year.
An issue with Marubeni Corp, which is in charge of construction of the Airport Rail’s electromechanical systems, could cause the ministry to postpone the launch again, he said.
“The ministry cannot accept the official operation date proposed by Marubeni,” Yeh said. “Our hope is that the system will not be delayed for too long. It would be great if the system could be launched within one year of October, but that would be a challenging task.”
Yeh added that the Airport Rail’s electromechanical systems were built by Marubeni, Hitachi and Kawasaki.
He said that the ministry had asked Hitachi and Kawasaki, which are both technically strong, to help Marubeni overcome any issues, because all three would be blamed for any construction delays.
“We will determine if the new deadline for launching the Airport Rail proposed by Marubeni is practical and viable,” Yeh said. “We will not be messed around by Marubeni.”
Asked why the the contractor had been assigned the project, Yeh said the contract was signed in 2006 and the ministry could now only enforce the terms of the contract even it was imperfect. He said that investigations by prosecutors had found no evidence that Marubeni had been assigned the contract illegally, but he said that there was room for improvement in terms of contractor selection.
Regarding freeway congestion during the Tomb Sweeping holiday, Yeh said that he would not censure National Freeway Bureau Director-General Tseng Dar-jen (曾大仁), even though he was responsible for supervising the bureau.
“I hope that government workers can be proactive,” he said. “Doling out punishment constantly would only cause them to have a mentality of ‘the less one does, the fewer mistakes one makes.’”
He also paraphrased late British prime minister Margaret Thatcher regarding consensus and decisionmaking, saying, “I am not making decisions based on consensus, but on my beliefs.”
“As a leader, you should have values and beliefs,” he added. “It is simply irresponsible to respond to public criticism by simply giving someone a demerit.”
Yeh also said that Tseng is qualified to lead the bureau because he has produced results in the past.
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
RSS