Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilors yesterday blasted Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) for failing to convince President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to focus more on Taipei in his i-Taiwan 12 infrastructure projects.
The councilors said they were worried that Taipei City’s competitiveness would suffer at the expense of Taoyuan County and Taichung City and accused the Taipei City Government of being passive on the matter.
The i-Taiwan projects, one of Ma’s major economic platforms, proposes putting NT$2.65 trillion (US$81 billion) in government investment over the next eight years into boosting the economy by expanding domestic demand.
Ma promised to invest in cities including Kaohsiung, Taichung and Taoyuan and turn them into major transportation hubs.
Construction projects involving Taipei City make up 5 percent of the proposal, DPP Taipei City Councilor Wu Su-yao (吳思瑤) said.
“As the mayor of the nation’s capital city and one of the KMT’s big names, you failed to seize this opportunity and work for the best interests of Taipei residents,” Wu said at a question-and-answer session at the Taipei City Council.
The projects include building and linking rapid transit networks in cities and counties across the country, turning Kaohsiung into a tariff-free port and eco-park, turning Taichung into an Asia-Pacific maritime and air logistics center and turning Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport into an “airport city.”
The proposal earmarks NT$130 billion for projects in Taipei City, while Taichung City will receive NT$200 billion and Taoyuan County NT$220 billion, Wu said.
DPP Taipei City Councilor Chou Wei-yu (周威佑) condemned Hau for putting less effort into raising the city’s competitiveness than other KMT local government heads have, including Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) and Taoyuan County Commissioner Chu Li-lun (朱立倫).
“You are supposed to be one of the KMT’s four big names along with Hu, Chu and KMT Secretary-General Wu Den-yi (吳敦義), but you did not take the chance to seek more for Taipei residents,” Chou said.
Hau dismissed the criticism, saying that some of the projects in Ma’s platform required cross-city cooperation. About NT$70 billion of the i-Taiwan budget would be given to Taipei City for the construction of MRT lines, he said.
DPP Taipei City Councilor Chien Yu-yen (簡余宴) urged Hau to spend more time focusing on the city’s development and look for solutions to problematic projects such as the unpopular Longshan Temple Underground Shopping Mall.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
RSS