The Taipei City Government yesterday denied reports that it had appropriated a Taipei MRT replacement fund to pay down the city’s debt, leading to a delay in replacing old trains with new ones on the Wenhu Line (文湖線).
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Wang Hao (王浩) on Monday said that while Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) has often praised himself for repaying NT$54 billion (US$1.75 billion) of the city’s debt, it was done by appropriating a part of the Taipei MRT replacement fund, which was supposed to be used for purchasing new trains and maintaining facilities.
Wang said that only about NT$1.35 billion from the fund was used to replace old components on MRT trains in the past four years, which is relatively low compared with the money that the city government had already borrowed from the fund.
Among the 42 cases of train delays of more than 5 minutes due to abnormal conditions in the past four years, 15 cases occurred on the Wenhu Line, Wang said, adding that among the 15 cases in 2017, seven were on the Wenhu Line.
As of 2017, Wenhu Line trains had been operating for 21 years, contrary to the original plan of having them replaced after 20 years of operation, Wang said, adding that Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) is even planning to extend the trains’ service life to about 40 years, which could affect the line’s safety.
Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems Commissioner Chang Ze-hsiung (張澤雄) said that an average of NT$4.4 billion is added each year to the MRT replacement fund, which now totals about NT$43 billion, with TRTC using about NT$1 billion NT$1.5 billion each year.
The money from the fund is deposited at a bank and money lent to the city government earns interest, Chang said, adding that the fund could get the money back any times, so train safety is not affected by the appropriation of the fund.
While a number of local media outlets covered Wang’s remarks, the Taipei Department of Finance singled out a report by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the sister paper of the Taipei Times).
Taipei City Government Deputy Secretary-General Chen Chih-ming (陳志銘) said that the Liberty Times report either lacked knowledge about financial scheduling or was a fake report to smear the government.
In response to media queries on why the city government criticized only one media outlet, Ko said: “We are only issuing a statement of clarification toward a particular media outlet.”
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