In response to public criticism of the Taipei City Government not having planned any budgets for “old building checkups” this year, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said the service is financed by the city’s second reserve fund rather than a budgetary item, adding that subsequent actions to bolster building structures, rather than the checkup, is key to tackling dilapidated buildings posing potential threats to public safety.
The SET-TV on Tuesday reported that the city had terminated a project offering residents free inspections of the structures of their apartment buildings, and that it worried some Taipei city councilors and residents living in old buildings.
Ko said it was a misleading media report, adding that the second reserve fund, which customarily covers the checkups, had been put into place and that relevant agencies might apply for the funding to inspect old buildings.
“This was never a problem. The Taiwanese media give me headaches,” he said.
Asked what policies Taipei introduced to ensure building safety, given that New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) on Tuesday said all buildings in New Taipei City erected before the 921 Earthquake in 1999 would be qualified for free checkups, Ko said he is averse to “knee-jerk” reactions, and that policies to promote residential safety should be comprehensive.
“The old building checkups are not the point. The point is what happens after the checkup,” he said.
Ko criticized the nation’s “shallow” culture, economy and politics, which he said had often prevented Taiwanese from finding solutions to difficult issues.
Citing policies the city government devised to address murky tap water seen in the wake of Typhoon Souldelor in August last year, Ko said these policies required about six months from preliminary research to implementation as they would involve the excavation of 70 backup wells to and more than 50 water taps at schools.
Similarly, plans to boost a city’s resilience against earthquakes and land liquefaction should not be finalized in two weeks, Ko said.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai