As of next year, the Taiwan Provincial Government will no longer be funded, and members of the Taiwan Provincial Consultative Council would to be reassigned to county and municipal governments, which would take over the province’s responsibilities, Taiwan Provincial Governor Wu Tze-cheng (吳澤成) said yesterday.
He told the Legislative Yuan’s Internal Administration Committee that the council had 57 members, of whom nine are to retire this year, with the remainder to take on new roles as of Jan. 1 next year.
The provincial government, based in Nantou County’s Jhongsing New Village (中興新村), had held a meeting in November last year to evaluate its responsibilities, and determined that 12 of its tasks could be discarded, and four could be handled by the central and local governments, while it would retain 23 tasks, Wu said.
At a meeting of provincial government and Executive Yuan representatives on Dec. 14 last year determined that aside from record-keeping, which would be handled by the provincial government, its tasks would be handled by the central and local governments, Wu said, adding that officials would be dispatched to handle record-keeping and other tasks when needed.
The majority of its tasks would be handled by the National Development Council, with the remaining duties taken over by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of the Interior, Wu said.
Its 39 regular and 18 custodial and engineering employees would also be reassigned, he said.
A three-week National Development Conference in December 1996 decided to downsize the functions and organizations of the provincial government and freeze the gubernatorial election as part of overall plans to streamline the nation’s government.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
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
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