It would cost about NT$1 billion (US$30.89 million) to restore Taroko National Park after it was severely damaged by a massive quake on April 3, Minister of Interior Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) said yesterday.
Speaking at a meeting of the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee on reconstruction after the earthquake, Lin said that several hiking trails, facilities and structures in the mountainous park were severely damaged by the temblor, which measured 7.2 on the Richter scale.
Based on preliminary estimates, the cost of restoring portions of the park that are the responsibility of the Ministry of the Interior would be more than NT$1 billion, Lin said, without offering any further specifics and what exactly that funding would cover.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
However, the estimate does not cover repairs to the main traffic artery that runs through the park — the Central Cross-island Highway (Provincial Highway No. 8) — which is the responsibility of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
More accurate estimates would not be available until a damage assessment is completed in about two weeks, Lin said, attributing the slow process to the many aftershocks in the area that have made surveying it difficult.
Taroko National Park stretches from the northern Hualien County coast as far inland as Hehuanshan (合歡山) near the border of Hualien and Nantou counties.
It is best known for the stunning Taroko Gorge and the cross-island highway along the Liwu River (立霧溪) that cut through it. The gorge and nearby trails were buried in landslides and rockslides triggered by the quake, killing several hikers.
Although access to the gorge remains closed, the interior ministry said the western parts of the park near Hehuanshan have reopened.
As for funding in the wake of the disaster, Lin said the central government allotted NT$300 million to the Hualien County Government to meet immediate needs, and is now assessing post-disaster shelter and housing reconstruction needs.
Some of the expenditures are to be covered by the existing disaster response budget and by funds collected through donations, and the government would only consider setting up a special budget if the funds are not sufficient, Lin said.
He was responding to legislators’ questions about whether a temporary regulation similar to the defunct Temporary Statute for 921 Earthquake Post-Disaster Reconstruction would be introduced.
Meanwhile, the Taiwan Foundation for Disaster Relief said in a statement that as of 7am yesterday, donations exceeding NT$900 million have poured into local accounts for earthquake relief.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to start construction of its 1.4-nanometer chip manufacturing facilities at the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP, 中部科學園區) as early as October, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported yesterday, citing the park administration. TSMC acquired land for the second phase of the park’s expansion in Taichung in June. Large cement, construction and facility engineering companies in central Taiwan have reportedly been receiving bids for TSMC-related projects, the report said. Supply-chain firms estimated that the business opportunities for engineering, equipment and materials supply, and back-end packaging and testing could reach as high as
CHAMPIONS: President Lai congratulated the players’ outstanding performance, cheering them for marking a new milestone in the nation’s baseball history Taiwan on Sunday won their first Little League Baseball World Series (LLBWS) title in 29 years, as Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School defeated a team from Las Vegas 7-0 in the championship game in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. It was Taiwan’s first championship in the annual tournament since 1996, ending a nearly three-decade drought. “It has been a very long time ... and we finally made it,” Taiwan manager Lai Min-nan (賴敏男) said after the game. Lai said he last managed a Dong Yuan team in at the South Williamsport in 2015, when they were eliminated after four games. “There is
Democratic nations should refrain from attending China’s upcoming large-scale military parade, which Beijing could use to sow discord among democracies, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Shen You-chung (沈有忠) said. China is scheduled to stage the parade on Wednesday next week to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. The event is expected to mobilize tens of thousands of participants and prominently showcase China’s military hardware. Speaking at a symposium in Taichung on Thursday, Shen said that Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) recently met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a visit to New Delhi.
FINANCES: The KMT plan to halt pension cuts could bankrupt the pension fund years earlier, undermining intergenerational fairness, a Ministry of Civil Service report said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus’ proposal to amend the law to halt pension cuts for civil servants, teachers and military personnel could accelerate the depletion of the Public Service Pension Fund by four to five years, a Ministry of Civil Service report said. Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) on Aug. 14 said that the Act Governing Civil Servants’ Retirement, Discharge and Pensions (公務人員退休資遣撫卹法) should be amended, adding that changes could begin as soon as after Saturday’s recall and referendum. In a written report to the Legislative Yuan, the ministry said that the fund already faces a severe imbalance between revenue
RSS