Independent Taipei mayor-elect Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Democratic Progressive Party Keelung mayor-elect Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) yesterday announced a plan to create a commission with representatives from Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and the future special municipality of Taoyuan to integrate metropolitan functions.
As part of an effort to enhance cooperation between Taipei and its neighbors, Ko paid a visit to Lin yesterday afternoon, after visiting the mayors of Taoyuan and New Taipei City earlier in the week to discuss intercity cooperation.
“During the meeting, I proposed creating a commission that includes Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, and Taoyuan, in which we may discuss the development of the cities as a living circle from a regional development point of view,” Lin said as he escorted Ko from his campaign office.
Photo: Yu Chao-fu, Taipei Times
Lin said he has long thought that improved integration was needed because though Keelung and Taipei are separate cities, they are within one living circle, since between 70,000 and 80,000 Keelung residents commute to Taipei for work or school.
“I therefore asked Ko to allow Keelung-based buses to go directly into Taipei to make it easier for commuters,” Lin said. “Also, to prevent Keelung from being marginalized in the future, I think it is important for Keelung to connect to the Nangang District [南港] transportation hub in Taipei via its Mass Rapid Transit [MRT] system — in other words, I think it is important to have a new MRT line connecting Nangang and Keelung.”
At the moment, a Taiwan Railways Administration and Taipei MRT line stop at Nangang Station, while High Speed Rail services are to be added.
Keelung could provide land to construct social housing complexes for Taipei if needed, Lin added.
Ko agreed with all of Lin’s ideas on enhancing connections between Taipei and Keelung, as well as creating the commission for regional development.
“When the MRT line between Nangang and Keelung is finished, I plan to construct youth housing complexes along the MRT line to fulfill my campaign promise to build 50,000 youth housing units,” Ko said. “It would help to solve the land issue.”
Both men said they are looking forward to working together.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS