River areas may be expropriated for the Taoyuan Aerotropolis project following a request by the Taoyuan County to the Ministry of the Interior, County Commissioner John Wu (吳志揚) said.
Local governments are responsible for expropriating land for major infrastructure projects, but river areas tend to fall under the jurisdiction of the central government, the commissioner said.
Wu told a radio show on Friday that 40 hectares of private land bordering four rivers and 21 ponds are proposed to come under the land acquisition plan for the project.
The project would design a sustainable water environment for area, Wu said, adding that the county plans to submit the proposal when the ministry begins urban planning reviews for the project.
The county estimates that 8,000 households will need to be relocated to make way for the project, but Wu was confident Taoyuan could avoid the acrimony seen in other parts of the nation.
He insisted that the residents’ interests will be protected by making sure that their new homes will be ready for occupation before they are moved, and by a relocation process of one village at a time.
Wu said the aerotropolis would be positioned in a region that already has major aviation hubs.
He said that Taiwan’s location compares favorably to that of Hong Kong and Singapore, and that the aerotropolis development will highlight that advantage, while helping local industries upgrade their operations.
The objective behind the project is to encourage local industries to evolve into centers of technical, research and development, and intellectual property expertise to create opportunities for multinational service providers, including exhibition and entertainment companies, venture capitalists and legal and accounting firms, Wu said.
An estimated NT$500 billion (US$16.57 billion) is to be invested in the aerotropolis project, which is expected to create 300,000 jobs and generate NT$2.3 trillion in economic activity.
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
RSS