Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday said that the building of a new government office in Sinjhuang (新莊), Taipei County, would not affect the Cabinet's plan to relocate parts of government departments to the south.
"To erect a new office building in Sinjhuang is to build a new home for those government offices that do not have a place of their own at the moment. It is still our policy to relocate some government offices to southern Taiwan," Su said. "Whether we will relocate the capital, however, is not a decision the Cabinet is ready to make right now."
The premier made the remarks during yesterday morning's weekly Cabinet meeting.
He added that the Fisheries Agency would relocate to Kao-hsiung City within six months.
Aside from the agency, however, the government has yet to decide on other candidates for relocation, he said.
"Relocating government offices to the south will help balance the development of the country," Su said. "But we need to discuss this plan further."
The premier said that 31 government offices do not own the buildings in which they are located, which has resulted in an aggregate NT$1 billion (US$30 million) in office rental annually.
"These are unnecessary expenses and this problem needs to be fixed," Su said. "We want to come up with the perfect plan to fix the problem."
The premier has been looking for locations where buildings could be built for those agencies that have been leasing office space, but has yet to decide how many buildings will be built.
"In addition to the Sinjhuang site, we need to discuss how many buildings need to be built and where to build them," he said. "We are working on that."
Taiwan yesterday expelled four China Coast Guard vessels that entered Taiwan-controlled restricted waters off Lienchiang County (Matsu) shortly after the Chinese People’s Liberation Army announced the start of its “Joint Sword-2024B” drills around Taiwan. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a statement that it had detected two China Coast Guard ships west of Nangan Island (南竿) and another two north of Dongyin Island (東引) at 8am yesterday. After Chinese ships sailed into restricted waters off Matsu shortly afterward, the CGA’s Kinmen-Matsu-Penghu Branch deployed four patrol vessels to shadow and approach the vessels, it said. The incidents pushed up to 44 the number
Renovations on the B3 concourse of Taipei Main Station are to begin on Nov. 1, with travelers advised to use entrances near the Taiwan Railway or high-speed rail platforms or information counter to access the MRT’s Red Line. Construction is to be completed before the end of next year, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said last week. To reduce the impact on travelers, the NT$95 million (US$2.95 million) project is to be completed in four stages, it said. In the first stage, the hall leading to the Blue Line near the art exhibition area is to be closed from Nov. 1 to the end
Taipei’s Ximending (西門町) shopping area welcomed the most international visitors, followed by Taipei 101, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park and Yangmingshan National Park (陽明山國家公園), a list of the city’s most popular tourist attractions published by the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism showed. As of August, 69.22 million people had visited Taipei’s main tourism spots, a 76 percent increase from 39.33 million in the same period last year, department data showed. Ximending had 20.21 million visitors, followed by Taipei 101 at 8.09 million, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park at 6.28 million, Yangmingshan at 4.51 million and the Red House Theater (西門紅樓) in
The government has issued a deportation order for a Spanish fugitive, ordering him to leave the country within 10 days, as he is wanted by European authorities for allegedly operating a car rental scam. National Immigration Agency (NIA) officials yesterday said Salvador Alejandro Llinas Onate, 48, had been notified that he must leave Taiwan, as he was wanted for committing serious crimes. The Spaniard has been indicted by Italian prosecutors for allegedly leading a 30 million euros (US$32.74 million) car rental scam and setting up a fraudulent company in Trento, Italy. The deportation order is based on Article 18 of
RSS