The Taipei City Government yesterday promised to keep more than 200 trees on Xinyi Road amid ongoing construction of the MRT’s Xinyi Line, with Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) vowing to turn Taipei into a greener city by planting more trees to provide shade along major roads.
Taipei City’s Department of Rapid Transit Systems originally planned to remove 286 banyan trees and autumn maple trees in July on part of the Xinyi Road between Zhongshan S Road and Hangzhou S Road for the construction of new bus lanes, but later decided to adjust the location of bus lanes and keep the trees instead.
“We decided to make way for the trees to respect the environment and Xinyi Road will be one of the major roads to have trees lining the sidewalk to provide shade. We will turn Taipei into a city with tree-lined roads and make the city greener,” Hau said yesterday at Taipei City Hall.
Photo: Chen Ching-min, Taipei Times
Department of Rapid Transit Systems Commissioner Jason Lin (林志盈) said the construction of the new bus lanes would still begin in July and the department will also expand the sidewalks and plant more trees along the road.
The construction of the Xinyi Line is scheduled to be completed next year.
Increasing the number of trees in Taipei was one of Hau’s campaign promises last year. To implement the policy, the city government is set to form a task force to discuss the project this week.
Taipei City’s Department of Urban Development said the city has decided to turn Songshan Road into a “scenic boulevard” by expanding the sidewalks and planting trees along the 1km long road.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
Greenpeace yesterday said that it is to appeal a decision last month by the Taipei High Administrative Court to dismiss its 2021 lawsuit against the Ministry of Economic Affairs over “loose” regulations governing major corporate electricity consumers. The climate-related lawsuit — the first of its kind in Taiwan — sought to require the government to enforce higher green energy thresholds on major corporations to reduce emissions in light of climate change and an uptick in extreme weather. The suit, filed by Greenpeace East Asia, the Environmental Jurists Association and four individual plaintiffs, was dismissed on May 8 following four years of litigation. The
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
The New Taipei City Government would assist relatives of those killed or injured in last month’s car-ramming incident in Sansia District (三峽) to secure compensation, Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said yesterday, two days after the driver died in a hospital. “The city government will do its best to help the relatives of the car crash incident seek compensation,” Hou said. The mayor also said that the city’s Legal Affairs, Education and Social Welfare departments have established a joint mechanism to “provide coordinated assistance” to victims and their families. Three people were killed and 12 injured when a car plowed into schoolchildren and their
RSS