Minister of Transportation and Communications Kuo Yao-chi (
Independent Legislator Chen Chin-ting (
"MOTC officials must have failed math in school," Chen said. "They would rather choose the expensive models and ignore the cheap ones."
People First Party (PFP) Legislator Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) criticized the ministry, saying it had insisted on launching the ETC system despite the low adoption of OBUs.
Anomalies
PFP Legislator Liu Wen-hsiung (
In response, Kuo said she would take full responsibility.
"The government is prepared to recall the [ETC system,]" Kuo said.
The ministry last week set a deadline of today for Far Eastern, the company contracted to set up the system, to increase the installation of OBUs to 100,000, or it would cancel one of the lanes set aside for the ETC.
Yesterday, Kuo said the ministry would not immediately cancel one of the lanes if Far Eastern failed to reach the target.
"It will take about seven to 10 days to inform motorists regarding changes in traffic signs and dividing lines between lanes," she said.
By yesterday, the number of OBUs installed had reached approximately 85,000 units. The goal of having 100,000 OBUs installed remains the same, Kuo said. However, she added that alternative arrangements would be made if Far Eastern was nearing the target.
Meanwhile, the legislature's transportation committee yesterday agreed to set up a special committee to investigate the bidding process for the ETC system.
Hostess bars
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wei Ming-ku (
Wei said that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker Cho Po-yuan (
The transcripts Wei referred to included phone numbers and dates, and the contents of conversations among Far Eastern representative Tsai Ching-hung (
The contents also included references to other major government projects, such as one with Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp.
Wang refused to comment on the allegations, saying the incident was in the middle of a legal proceeding and that legislators should refrain from speaking about it.
Wei added that Vice President Annette Lu (
Lu yesterday dismissed the allegations.
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
Taiwan plans to cull as many as 120,000 invasive green iguanas this year to curb the species’ impact on local farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture said. Chiu Kuo-hao (邱國皓), a section chief in the ministry’s Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, on Sunday said that green iguanas have been recorded across southern Taiwan and as far north as Taichung. Although there is no reliable data on the species’ total population in the country, it has been estimated to be about 200,000, he said. Chiu said about 70,000 iguanas were culled last year, including about 45,000 in Pingtung County, 12,000 in Tainan, 9,900 in
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Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
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