Flood prevention projects that were due to be completed in the past two years fell far behind schedule, while about 60 percent of the budget for the projects went unused, the Control Yuan said in an audit report yesterday.
The audit reviewed the government’s use of NT$30.97 billion (US$1.1 billion) in funds earmarked for 2006 and last year to improve flood prevention in high-risk areas — the first phase of the government’s eight-year NT$116 billion flood prevention and water management plan.
The legislature approved the special budget for 2006 to 2013 to launch a three-stage program to combat flooding in 1,150km² of high-risk areas in central and southern Taiwan.
Extensive flooding caused by Tropical Storm Kalmaegi earlier this month prompted questions about the plan’s effectiveness.
The Control Yuan report found 10 major flaws with the plan’s implementation.
The report said the government had been slow in planning flood prevention projects and only 27 projects out of 167 projects, or 16 percent, had been completed by the end of last year.
In addition, some of the projects to be paid for with the budget were not related to flood control, including building pavilions, sightseeing platforms and walkways and repairing office buildings, the report said. The Control Yuan said it would ask that government agencies shape up their use of special budgets.
Of the NT$30.97 billion earmarked for the first phase of the plan, NT$11.48 billion was allocated for dredging rivers and other waterways and building embankments in 123 locations countrywide. The budget for this purpose was NT$6.7 billion higher than needed, the report said, while the execution rate for the projects was as low as 25 percent.
A main obstacle to carrying out flood prevention projects was the need to expropriate riverside land needed for improving water system management, the report said. Of 80 such projects, 78 were not finished because of this problem.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS