Hualien County Commissioner Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁) yesterday called on Premier Lin Chuang (林全) to clarify a consensus announced by the Executive Yuan’s Eastern Taiwan Joint Services Center regarding a highway improvement project.
Fu asked whether the consensus — reached between the center and a deputy minister — was considered legally binding.
The center’s executive director Hsu Chuan-sheng (許傳盛) said that a cross-departmental meeting on Monday reached a consensus that the Suhua Highway Improvement Project would be completed by 2018 and would not be delayed or have its route changed, adding that maximum effort would be spent to conserve cultural heritage sites along the project.
The meeting was held between Hsu, Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) and Deputy Minister of Culture Yang Tzu-pao (楊子葆).
The cultural heritage site in question is the Hanben culture archeological site (漢本遺址), which on July 1 was designated as a national heritage site.
Hsu said that multiple landslides along the highway caused by Typhoon Nepartak showed that there is an urgency to meet the project’s deadline, as the highway poses a safety risk to drivers and needs greater maintenance.
The meeting concluded that the project should endeavor to minimize damage to the heritage site and maximize conservation.
However, Fu said the center has never been clear on the improvement project, adding that the county government has not clarified whether the consensus would carry legal weight.
The people in the meeting do not have adequate seniority, and Minister of Transportation and Communications Hochen Tan (賀陳旦) is known to oppose the project, Fu said, adding that the premier should clarify the Executive Yuan’s stance on the issue.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
RSS