The Executive Yuan yesterday finalized a plan to construct the Keelung MRT Line, which would connect Taipei’s Nangang Station (南港) to Keelung’s Badu Station (八堵), with about 77 percent of the costs to be paid by the central government.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) made the announcement yesterday morning during an inspection tour in Keelung.
Building the Keelung metropolitan rail system is important, as it affects transportation, industrial development and tourism in Taipei, Keelung and New Taipei City, Su said.
People have been waiting 30 years for the plan to be finalized, as officials had difficulty agreeing on the route, he said.
“The Executive Yuan upgraded the project from a light rail system to an MRT system, and government officials have come to an agreement on the MRT stations,” Su said.
Construction costs for the project have risen from NT$8 billion to NT$42.5 billion (US$286.94 million to US$1.52 billion), of which NT$32.7 billion would be paid by the central government, Su said.
The remaining cost would be paid by the three city governments, he added.
“Through the collective efforts of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, legislators and local officials, we hope that the project is no longer just talk, but will foster the development of the ‘greater Taipei’ metropolitan area,” he said.
Once constructed, the line would convey travelers from Keelung directly to Nangang Station, where they could transfer to the Taipei MRT’s Bannan Line (Blue Line) and the Taiwan High-Speed Rail, Su said.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said the ministry had planned to build a light rail system that could operate on the Taiwan Railways Administration’s (TRA) rail network, but later found that doing so would greatly decrease the TRA system’s efficiency.
The finalized plan is the first to connect Nangang and Badu, Wang said, adding that it would make the commute to Taipei easier from Keelung and New Taipei City’s Sijhih District (汐止).
According to the ministry’s presentation, the 16.05km-long line is to have 13 stations and passengers would be able to transfer at Nangang Station to the Taipei MRT’s Bannan Line and Wenhu Line (Brown Line), as well as the TRA and high-speed railways.
The plan must still undergo an environmental impact assessment, the ministry said.
The Keelung MRT Line is to begin operations by April 2032, the ministry added.
Right-wing political scientist Laura Fernandez on Sunday won Costa Rica’s presidential election by a landslide, after promising to crack down on rising violence linked to the cocaine trade. Fernandez’s nearest rival, economist Alvaro Ramos, conceded defeat as results showed the ruling party far exceeding the threshold of 40 percent needed to avoid a runoff. With 94 percent of polling stations counted, the political heir of outgoing Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves had captured 48.3 percent of the vote compared with Ramos’ 33.4 percent, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said. As soon as the first results were announced, members of Fernandez’s Sovereign People’s Party
EMERGING FIELDS: The Chinese president said that the two countries would explore cooperation in green technology, the digital economy and artificial intelligence Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday called for an “equal and orderly multipolar world” in the face of “unilateral bullying,” in an apparent jab at the US. Xi was speaking during talks in Beijing with Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi, the first South American leader to visit China since US special forces captured then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro last month — an operation that Beijing condemned as a violation of sovereignty. Orsi follows a slew of leaders to have visited China seeking to boost ties with the world’s second-largest economy to hedge against US President Donald Trump’s increasingly unpredictable administration. “The international situation is fraught
MORE RESPONSIBILITY: Draftees would be expected to fight alongside professional soldiers, likely requiring the transformation of some training brigades into combat units The armed forces are to start incorporating new conscripts into combined arms brigades this year to enhance combat readiness, the Executive Yuan’s latest policy report said. The new policy would affect Taiwanese men entering the military for their compulsory service, which was extended to one year under reforms by then-president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in 2022. The conscripts would be trained to operate machine guns, uncrewed aerial vehicles, anti-tank guided missile launchers and Stinger air defense systems, the report said, adding that the basic training would be lengthened to eight weeks. After basic training, conscripts would be sorted into infantry battalions that would take
GROWING AMBITIONS: The scale and tempo of the operations show that the Strait has become the core theater for China to expand its security interests, the report said Chinese military aircraft incursions around Taiwan have surged nearly 15-fold over the past five years, according to a report released yesterday by the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Department of China Affairs. Sorties in the Taiwan Strait were previously irregular, totaling 380 in 2020, but have since evolved into routine operations, the report showed. “This demonstrates that the Taiwan Strait has become both the starting point and testing ground for Beijing’s expansionist ambitions,” it said. Driven by military expansionism, China is systematically pursuing actions aimed at altering the regional “status quo,” the department said, adding that Taiwan represents the most critical link in China’s
RSS