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.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei MRT is to begin accepting mobile payment services in the fall, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said on Saturday. When the company finishes the installation of new payment units at ticketing gates in October, MRT passengers can use credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, the operator said. In addition, the MRT would also provide QR payment codes — which would be compatible with Line Pay, Jkopay, iPass Money, PXPay Plus, EasyWallet, iCash Pay, Taiwan Pay and Taishin Pay — to access the railway system. Currently, passengers can access the Taipei MRT by buying a single-journey token or using EasyCard,
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