The Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ (MOTC) decision to reject several plans for new mass rapid transit (MRT) or light-rail systems has not deterred local governments, with some of them vowing yesterday to continue to fight for the projects.
Taoyuan County Commissioner John Wu (吳志揚) said rejection of the county’s plan to build a Green Line Taoyuan MRT System would halt development of the Taoyuan Airport Zone, which is one of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) “I-Taiwan” plans.
The 24km Green Line would connect Bade City (八德) to the Airport Zone.
“The Green Line will help link different zones surrounding the Airport Zone and is crucial to its development,” he said, adding that the county would amend its plan and resubmit it to the ministry.
Hsinchu County Commissioner Chiu Ching-chun (邱鏡淳) said Jhubei City (竹北) has a high-speed rail station and a bio-tech science park, so building a light-rail system between Hsinchu and Miaoli was needed to connect the station and the park to the Hsinchu Science Park.
Kaohsiung County’s plan to develop a college town suffered a major setback after the ministry rejected a plan to build a light-rail system in Yanchao (燕巢) to link seven university campuses.
Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興) said his government would not abandon its plan, but would first try to boost ridership on the county bus system.
The ministry turned down plans submitted by Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Tainan and Kaohsiung counties and Keelung and it asked the Taipei County Government to re-evaluate plans to build a light- rail system for Danhai New Township (淡海新市鎮).
Those plans were among 14 MRT or light-rail proposals submitted by local governments. They all have one thing in common — a low self-liquidation ratio (SLR), which is an indication of whether a government has sufficient liquid assets or net capital to liquidate in an orderly fashion.
The ministry would have to allocate approximately NT$500 billion (US$15 billion) for all 14 projects, about what it cost to build the high-speed rail system.
Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Wei-zen (陳威仁) reiterated yesterday that a county must have sufficient passenger numbers and passenger demand before it could consider building an MRT or light- rail system.
It must also have well-rounded financial plans to ensure funding, he said.
“Many of the places in central and southern Taiwan do not even have public bus services because people prefer to ride motorcycles or drive their cars. You can’t expect too many people to use the MRT systems once they are built,” he said.
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