The planned Taoyuan Aerotropolis project is expected to attract NT$1.2 trillion (US$37.7 billion) in business investment, facilitating annual productivity gains of NT$600 billion and 800,000 new job opportunities around the airport city, a Taoyuan County Government official said yesterday.
The project is scheduled for completion in 2021.
“If the number of passengers using [Taiwan] Taoyuan International Airport can be doubled to 40 million per year, 40,000 job opportunities will be created to serve the increased volume of tourists, while a further 40,000 related job opportunities will also be added,” Lee Yung-jaan (李永展), director-general of the urban and rural development department under the Taoyuan County Government, yesterday told a seminar organized by PCL TransAsia Law Offices (安信商務法律) in Taipei.
Since its launch in 1979, the airport in Taoyuan has gradually ceded international competitiveness to other Asian airports, Taoyuan County Commissioner John Wu (吳志揚) said at the seminar.
He expressed confidence in the ability of the aerotropolis project to enhance airport competitiveness, because Taoyuan is perfectly located to play the role of an Asian aviation hub and the government plans to spend NT$290 billion to improve airport infrastructure.
“Passengers can fly from Taoyuan to many major cities in Asia with an average flight time of 2.5 hours,” he said.
The airport city project accounts for 7.35 percent of the total budget for President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 12 i-Taiwan projects at nearly NT$4 trillion, he said.
Lee said the number of passengers at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport fell 6.4 percent to 21.94 million in 2008. It is the 18th-largest airport in Asia, down from 14th in 2007, and is way behind Tokyo Haneda Airport’s 66.76 million passengers, Beijing Capital International Airport’s 55.94 million and Hong Kong International Airport’s 47.86 million — the three largest airports in Asia.
At the same time, the quality of services available at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport was ranked 25th in Asia by Airports Council International — down from 18th the previous year, he said.
To catch up, the 6,150 hectare Taoyuan Aerotropolis project will include a third terminal, logistics areas, an airport rapid transit system, an exhibition center, a value-added agricultural zone and a bay-area recreational zone in the first phase, he said.
In the second phase, the project’s neighboring areas, such as Luchu Township (蘆竹), will be included in a 10,000 hectare mega city project to be completed by 2031, Lee said.
To ensure the aerotropolis project’s feasibility and future success, Yeh Chun-yao (葉鈞耀), chairman of Taoyuan-based Farglory Free Trade Zone (遠雄自由貿易港區), yesterday urged both the Ma administration and the county government to accelerate deregulation while cutting red tape and mapping out detailed support measures. The Farglory Free Trade Zone — the world’s first and largest free-trade air cargo zone — has incurred more than NT$2 billion in losses since its launch in late 2005, with only half its available space currently occupied by businesses, Yeh said.
Most of the zone’s high-tech companies remain barred from raising their quota of expatriate workers despite the fact that many native employees refuse to work late shifts — a problem that may force them to quit the zone, he said.
If the Taoyuan Aerotropolis project were to repeat the same mistakes, it would run the very real risk of failure, Yeh said.
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