The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday lashed out at Minister of Transportation and Communications Yeh Kuang-shih (葉匡時) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for saying that the party should be held responsible for the bankruptcy of Taiwan High Speed Rail Co (THSRC).
With THSRC suffering a financial crisis, the ministry proposed to extend by 40 years the build-operate-transfer agreement the government signed with the company to allow corporate investors to benefit from the rail operator and encourage them to continue to invest.
However, Yeh’s proposal was criticized as benefiting corporations at the expense of taxpayers and failed a legislative review, with even KMT lawmakers objecting to the plan.
Following the legislature’s rejection of his financial reconstruction plan, Yeh announced that he would resign as minister.
His resignation is pending the approval of Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國), with Mao and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) trying to persuade him to stay.
Meanwhile, the DPP urged the ministry to accept responsibility for THSRC’s expected bankruptcy.
“The governing party should be responsible for its policies rather than blaming the opposition party,” DPP spokesperson Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) told a news conference yesterday.
“The financial reconstruction plan proposed by the ministry was not carefully drafted, and is far from transparent, therefore it was rightly questioned and rejected even by lawmakers from the KMT,” Cheng said.
While the construction of the high-speed rail system was completed under a DPP administration, the contracts were signed during the previous KMT administration and Mao was deputy minister of transportation and communications at the time, Cheng said.
The ministry “should not threaten the public with the company’s potential bankruptcy,” he said, adding that “bankruptcy is not the only option, the ministry should try its best to come up with a solution, instead of blaming others.”
The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) also panned Yeh’s handling of the company’s financial crisis.
“The ministry should not threaten people with the likelihood that the company will soon go broke”, TSU caucus whip Lai Chen-chang (賴振昌) said.
Obviously, Yeh is trying to act on behalf of corporate investors who want to use more taxpayers’ money, Lai said.
TSU Legislator Chou Ni-an (周倪安) said that since New Taipei Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) has promised to push for reforms after he is sworn in as KMT chairman, “why not just make up the financial gap with the KMT’s illegally earned party assets?”
Chu is the only candidate for the KMT chairperson position.
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