Delays in the construction of the Minsheng-Xizhi line of the Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system are due to differences of opinion with Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday.
During a question-and-answer session at the New Taipei City Council, New Taipei City Councilor Chou Sheng-Kao (周勝考) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said that the “three rings, three lines” rail system, which includes the Minsheng-Xizhi MRT line, is Chu’s central policy, and asked Chu why its construction has been postponed.
Chu yesterday cited Ko’s insistence that construction plans formulated by both municipalities be delivered in one package to the central government for review as the main cause of the delay and apologized to New Taipei City residents.
Chu said that, with former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin’s (郝龍斌) support, his administration has finished preliminary work along the rail lines and at a number of MRT stations, but that Ko insists that plans for the section between Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖) and the Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area be finalized and approved in one effort.
“Now that Ko has spent two years familiarizing himself with city policies and encountered traffic problems in Neihu, I believe that he will see the Minsheng-Xizhi line in a new light,” he said.
The New Taipei City Government would seek to reach a consensus with Ko to carry out construction work in several stages, Chu said.
The Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems, which oversees the intercity transportation project, denied having changed its stance on the project, saying that it has always been in favor of carrying out the construction in several stages after integrating plans set out by both municipalities and passing the central government’s review.
The department said it is revising a construction plan in an effort to pass a necessary environmental impact assessment.
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