Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) yesterday asked the Kaohsiung City Government and the Sports Affairs Council (SAC) to negotiate to resolve a NT$200 million (US$6.06 million) budget shortage for next month’s World Games.
The SAC slashed an NT$845 million budget approved for the World Games by NT$230 million earlier this month because of what it described as inflated funding and overlapping requests by the city government.
Kaohsiung City councilors across party lines, however, came to the defense of the city government, saying the money appropriated to Kaohsiung City was NT$200 million short of the budget granted to the Kaohsiung Organizing Committee for the World Games (KOC) this year in a budget statement approved by the legislature.
After further discussion, Kaohsiung is still NT$190 million short of its targeted budget.
“It’s not the time to have disputes. Although minimizing expenses should be the basic principle, the minimum funds in necessary projects should be met,” Liu said during a safety inspection of the World Games main stadium.
“It’s the public’s expectation that the central government and local government should cooperate,” he said, adding that the city and central government should find ways to narrow the budget shortage on the basis of not wasting public funds.
Meanwhile, Liu expressed his concerns over the event’s safety measures, the parachuting events and the certification of the athletes’ villages and personnel, and urged the KOC to pay particular attention to these areas.
If individuals duplicate their applications for permits, it could cause a loophole in security preparations, Liu said.
Referring to the kidnapping of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Liu asked the KOC to step up measures to ensure the safety of the hotels that athletes will use.
Liu agreed with Kaohsiung’s request for 600 military police to maintain security during the event and to grant visa-free treatment to Kenyan guests who will visit Taiwan during the games, scheduled for July 16 to July 26.
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