A plan to cut the retirement benefits of retired political appointees has been submitted to the Examination Yuan for review as part of the government’s pension reform initiative, the Ministry of Civil Service said on Sunday.
The retirement income replacement rate for some political appointees would be cut to 50 percent of their former income, while the preferential 18 percent interest rate on some retirement savings accounts would be phased out over a period of six years — as is being proposed in the reform plan for retired public servants, the ministry said.
Appointees who retired before Dec. 31, 2003, have been criticized because they were able to count time working as civil servants toward their total years in service to receive larger pensions.
The amendment to the Act Governing the Recompense for the Discharge of Special Political Appointees (政務人員退職撫卹條例), which is expected to affect about 500 people, was submitted to the Examination Yuan on March 24, the ministry said.
The amendment stipulates that senior appointees with 35 years service would see their income replacement rate drop from 75 percent to 60 percent in 15 years, while special appointees with 35 years service would see their rate drop from 65 percent to 50 percent over the same period.
According to ministry data, 542 retired appointees in eight categories receive pensions, including 235 who receive monthly payments averaging NT$117,393 (US$3,870).
As for the preferential interest rate system, there was NT$1.21 billion deposited in 541 bank accounts held by the retirees as of June last year on which they could draw 18 percent interest, ministry data showed.
The government, which subsidizes the program, and Bank of Taiwan made interest payments of NT$170 million and NT$36 million on those accounts respectively in 2015, according to the data.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
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