Following their inauguration on Tuesday, the mayors of the six special municipalities yesterday attended a meeting of the Executive Yuan in Taipei and tendered their proposals for central government funding for local projects.
New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) submitted a budget proposal asking the central government to fund the municipality’s mass public transportation projects.
Hou’s proposal seeks to build three circular MRT lines linking New Taipei City to Taoyuan and Taipei, with the addition of six other lines — an extension of the light rail system in Bali District (八里); a light rail system in Tamsui; a line connecting Wugu District (五股) to Taishan District (泰山); one in Shenkeng District (深坑); one in Ankeng District (安坑); and a Minsheng-Sijhih line.
Photo courtesy of the Executive Yuan
Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) also requested funding for transportation projects, in particular an extension of the metro service in Kaohsiung to Lujhu (路竹) and Linyuan (林園) districts.
Han said he had separated the Kaohsiung MRT project into three categories based on their urgency: the Red, Blue and Green lines, in ascending order.
Sharing his experiencing in seeking central government support, Premier William Lai (賴清德), a former mayor of Tainan, said that if local policies dovetail with central government policies, it would not only facilitate requests for funding, but would also ensure that such policies would be carried out at the local level.
Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) said that reducing the number of thermal power plants would help ameliorate poor air quality in Taichung.
Lai replied that the central government would abide by the results of a referendum on the issue last month, adding that the Ministry of Economic Affairs is conducting an overall review of the nation’s energy policy and would inform local governments after completing the task.
The meeting between Lai and the six municipal mayors was amicable, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka said.
The central government will offer its support to policies previously agreed upon and party affiliation will not be a factor, Kolas quoted Lai as saying.
“Neither the central government nor the local governments can shoulder the development of the nation’s infrastructure or economy alone; it must be a joint effort,” she quoted the premier as saying.
All mayors expressed their concern over government efforts to prevent African swine fever from spreading to Taiwan, Kolas added.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
RSS