President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen said he would like to apologize to all residents for inappropriate management of water resources. Chen said that, as the nation's leader, he felt embarrassed when seeing affected people's worried looks on the TV news.
The president made the comments while receiving representatives of Lions Club International yesterday.
"The terrible restricted water supply situation in Taoyuan is not the first instance. They suffered the same problems once already last year. We owe the residents of the county an apology," Chen said.
The government has adopted measures to tackle the water restrictions, which have been caused by the increased turbidity of river water after typhoons. However, Chen said that he wondered why the problems remain unsolved.
Chen said the date for bringing normal water supplies back to people in Taoyuan remained uncertain, and that the government should be blamed for the uncertainty. Chen said he was fully aware that sending his sincere regards to affected people might not be sufficient to pacify them.
"Some officials have to be responsible for the event and even step down. The government should not cover up mistakes made by responsible officials," Chen said.
Chen yesterday also called on all political parties to agree to a special legislative session to review a NT$80 billion eight-year budget for water resources management.
Meanwhile, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday blasted Taoyuan County Commissioner Chu Li-lun (朱立倫) for criticizing the central government, saying it was a tactic to evade responsibility for managing the water shortages in Taoyuan County, as the local head should also take responsibility as well.
Lu made the comments before she attended the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) weekly central standing committee yesterday afternoon.
Lu, who served as Taoyuan County Commissioner for three years, said that this is not the first year Taoyuan County has faced water supply problems.
Although the situation this year is not as bad as last year, both central and local governments should look into the problem thoroughly and find out if any man-made mistakes have contributed to the problem, she said.
"Water and soil preservation projects in Taoyuan County were ranked the best compared to other counties when I was the commissioner, and there was no problem with Shihmen Reservoir at that time, either," Lu said.
"The local government should cope with the water shortage problem more cautiously and local people do not have to over-interpret this issue and demand the central government to shoulder all the responsibility," Lu said.
"Local commissioners have to know that they cannot just evade responsibility by blaming the central government when facing natural disasters," Lu said. "Local heads should shoulder their responsibilities as well."
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