The Ministry of National Defense will assign a troop of army engineers and navy frogmen to remove the sediment that has accumulated at the bottom of the Shihmen Reservoir in the hope of solving the area's recurring water shortage problem, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said yesterday.
Su made the remarks on the legislative floor yesterday when questioned by lawmakers on a two-year, NT$309 million (US$1.106 billion) floodwater control budget -- the first stage of a proposed total budget of NT$116 billion that will be appropriated over eight years.
In response to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsu Shu-po's (許舒博) question, Su said Minister of National Defense Lee Jye (李傑) on Monday had approved the Ministry of Economic Affairs' request that the army help out in removing silt and sediment in the reservoir.
"Estimates put the total amount of sediment buildup every three years in all of the nation's reservoirs at about the size of a Sun Moon Lake (
Hsu said that as it is getting harder to build new reservoirs because of environmental concerns, increasing the reservoir's capacity by resolving the sediment problem could be a solution.
The problem with sedimentation, resulting from heavy rains washing soil and other debris produced by deforestation, farming and road constructions in mountainous areas into the Shihmen Reservoir, has often caused the suspension of water supply in northern Taiwan.
The government has earmarked an eight-year, NT$116 billion flood- control budget to resolve the twin problems of flooding and water supply suspension that plague the nation every summer.
Independent Legislator May Chin (
"There are about 30 Aboriginal tribes in the country, none of which are free from the threat of flood every time there is typhoon," she said.
The whole NT$116 billion project will be funded by a special budget, with the government selling state-owned stocks and raising debt to collect funds.
For the first stage of the pro-ject, NT$10 billion will be raised from selling state-owned stocks of Taiwan Cooperative Bank and Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp; the remaining NT$20.9 billion will be financed from debt.
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