The Executive Yuan is considering the possibility of allowing the private sector to build and manage national freeways in the future in a bid to make the construction and management of such facilities more effective.
"At the current stage, we're thinking of allowing the private sector to manage freeways in western Taiwan after paying a certain amount of money to obtain the management permit from us. Then we can take the money to help build freeways in eastern Taiwan," said Premier Yu Shyi-kun during an inspection trip to Hualien County yesterday.
Yu said that he had discussed the matter with President Chen Shui-bian (
"Both of them expressed their support for the idea," he said. "I expect to see a thorough report from the transportation ministry within three months."
The Cabinet has planned to build a freeway network in eastern Taiwan connecting Taipei with Hualien and Taitung counties.
The 31km Taipei-Ilan Freeway, which has already been completed, connects the Second Freeway in Taipei City with Ilan County.
The 24km extension line connecting Ilan with Suao is scheduled for completion by next year. Once it is finished, the three-hour drive from Taipei to Ilan via the Taipei-Ilan Highway will be shortened to 40 minutes.
The 86.5km Suao-Hualien Freeway is estimated to cost NT$96 billion to build and scheduled for completion by 2011.
The 173km line connecting Hualien and Taitung will cost an estimated NT$92 billion to build.
"The Cabinet will do whatever it can to help the county improve infrastructure construction so that more people will travel to Hualien," Yu said.
To help bring in more tourists from across the strait, Yu pledged to use "appropriate channels to conduct the necessary negotiations" with China.
"I hope to see more people from China visiting Taiwan following the government's approval for Chinese students studying abroad and Chinese nationals with a foreign permanent residency to visit Taiwan," Yu said.
According to Yu, about 2.62 million foreign tourists visited Taiwan last year and most of them were from China and Japan. Tourism revenues also accounted for 3.5 percent of last year's GDP.
"Our goal is to have 3.5 million foreign tourists traveling to Taiwan and to see tourism take up 5 percent of the GDP in 2004," Yu said.
To help the county better develop the area, Yu also pledged to give more funding for the county's urban development projects.
In a bid to speed up the NT$380 million construction project of the Hualien Harbor, Yu said that the Cabinet would allocate NT$122 million this year.
The project has been held up because of discord between the Hualien County Government and the Hualien Harbor Bureau after the central government in 1993 planned to upgrade the Hualien Harbor into a multi-function fishing port.
Yu also promised to allocate NT$180 million for the second-phase expansion project of the Hualien Airport.
To help the county government turn the old railway station into an area consisting of a park, children's playground and parking lot, Yu pledged to subsidize NT$17 million for the NT$100 million project.
Yu also agreed to lend a 3.4-hectare brewery to the county government free of interest so that the county can turn it into a historic park.
The 72-year-old brew-house has been closed since 1988, when the facility was relocated to the Meiloon Industrial Park.
Yu also asked the county to submit the second phase of the NT$25 million reconstruction of the Pine Garden (
The Pine Garden is a 58-year-old, two-story building that was used by the Japanese army as a military command center during World War II.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from
RSS