With the legislature set to start a three-day extraordinary session tomorrow to review an NT$31.6 billion special budget for flood-prevention measures along the Keelung River, a request by the Taipei City Government to include an additional NT$1.9 billion in funding for the city remains a major point of contention.
According to legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Wang said he will host inter-party negotiations tomorrow to determine the stand of the legislature.
Though generally supportive of the budget, opposition lawmakers are dissatisfied because it fails to include the NT$1.9 billion for Taipei City.
They have asked the Cabinet to make a revision to the budget proposal to include the amount or fund Taipei City with the tax-redistribution fund or secondary reserves.
The KMT legislative caucus, in particular, has branded the exclusion as a DPP scheme to thwart Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou's (
KMT caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (
As legislators only have the right to cut a proposed budget but have no right to add anything to it, there is no way for legislators to step in, Lin noted.
Also, Lin doubted if it would be effective to pass a resolution to demand that the Cabinet grant the funding to Taipei City, saying no resolution would be sufficient to bind the Cabinet if it decided not to comply.
Despite the uncertainty, PFP caucus convener Liu Wen-hsiung (
Liu said the Cabinet must consider the flood-prevention measures comprehensively and should not deliberately leave out a segment of the river falling under the administration of a non-DPP mayor.
The caucus will demand that the Cabinet report the progress of the flood-prevention project to the legislature on a regular basis after the passage of the budget, Liu said.
Wang Tuoh (
Wang said it is unreasonable for Taipei City to ask the Cabinet for money, as the city's financial conditions are even better than the central government.
Taipei should issue government bonds on its own to raise the funds, the DPP lawmaker said.
Wang said the Cabinet has made a concession by agreeing to grant Taipei City NT$350 million.
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