Ground was broken yesterday for the first phase of construction on the Taipei Mass Rapid Transit System’s (MRT) Wanda (light green) line, although the ceremony was panned by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) New Taipei City mayoral candidate Yu Shyi-kun, who said a groundbreaking event was already held three years ago.
The former premier said the New Taipei City Government had wasted public funds by holding another ceremony.
Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺), who presided over yesterday’s ceremony alongside Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) and New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), hailed Taipei’s MRT as “the pride of Taiwan” for its efficiency, convenience and comfort.
However, Yu showed reporters a photograph of Hau, Chu and other officials standing under the Hwachung Bridge for a groundbreaking ceremony for the line in 2011.
“Since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was elected as president, a solid and hardworking political culture has gradually changed into one of ephemeral and empty promises,” Yu said.
“Ma swindled his way into presidency via the fairy-tale 6-3-3 policy,” Yu said, alluding to the pledge of 6 percent annual economic growth, US$30,000 per capita income and an unemployment rate lower than 3 percent by 2012 Ma made ahead of the 2008 presidential election.
Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) also used the construction of the Bus Rapid Transport system, which is already triggering consumer complaints about leaking water even though it is not yet finished, to deceive voters, Yu said
He said that Chu, whom he is running against in the Nov. 29 election, was also guilty of deceiving the public by taking part in a groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday last week for the Taipei MRT Minsheng-Xizhi line project when the formal plans for the line have yet to be submitted to the Executive Yuan.
“The [New Taipei City] government should have been concentrating on the construction over the past three years instead of wasting public funds to hold a second groundbreaking ceremony,” Yu said, referring to yesterday’s groundbreaking event.
The Wanda line will connect Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華) with New Taipei City’s Yonghe (永和), Jhonghe (中和) and Shulin (樹林) districts.
The first phase of the project will span 9.5km from Wanhua to Jhonghe, with four stations in Taipei and five stations and one depot in Jhonghe, and the line will connect to the red and green lines of the Taipei MRT at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall station.
Construction is expected to be completed in 2018.
Phase two will see a connection to the MRT’s blue line at the Tucheng (土城) station and nationwide railway services at Shulin train station.
Taipei Rapid Transit Corp statistics show that the greater Taipei region’s MRT system now has 103 stations and carries about 1.74 million passengers per day.
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