A ground-breaking ceremony held yesterday for the Taipei MRT Minsheng-Xizhi line construction project was criticized as political theater by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, as formal plans for the line have yet to be submitted to the Executive Yuan.
Yesterday’s ground-breaking was for a preliminary construction project that will clear away trees and remove pipes and cables from the planned construction site.
However, the Taipei City Government’s Department of Rapid Transportation Systems, which is responsible for the plan, said it is yet to receive a formal proposal for the MRT extension, while the New Taipei City Department of Rapid Transportation Systems said that even after a plan is submitted and approved, design and redistricting work will need to be done before construction can formally start.
Photo: CNA
Furhtermore, even after construction starts, the line will take nine years to complete, the New Taipei City agency said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator (DPP) Kao Chih-peng (高志鵬) criticized the NT$14 million (US$46,000) preliminary construction project, saying the money was a trick to get voters to support New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), who is seeking re-election in the Nov. 29 nine-in-one polls.
The Minsheng-Xizhi MRT line is just one of eight such lines Chu has promised to build that have yet to receive central government approval, DPP Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said.
Chu said the preliminary construction demonstrates the New Taipei City Government’s determination to carry out the project, while the municipality’s Transportation Department said that clearing the site will speed construction once the plan is formally approved.
“During rush hour, more than 60,000 cars travel between Taipei and Xizhi every hour,” Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said at the event, adding that a new MRT line is the best solution to alleviate traffic congestion.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching