Yilan County’s Suao Township (蘇澳) on Monday said that it would next year take over the operations of the area’s renowned cold springs from private contractors following a vote at the township council.
Suao Cold Spring Park is one of the nation’s most important tourist attractions.
The township office allows private businesses to operate the park’s bath facilities after paying a premium for a contract, even though the facilities were built with public funds, Suao Council Speaker Chang Cheng-yi (張正義) said.
Earlier this year, the council voted on the issue and cut NT$4 million (US$133,378) from the township budget in premiums-derived revenue, Chang said.
Township councilors intend to reassert the office’s ownership and right to manage the park, he said.
Suao Mayor Chen Chin-lin (陳金麟) said the office had favored using contractors to manage the facilities because it would have otherwise been obliged to charge unreasonably low prices.
This is because the township’s self-governing ordinance for the park stipulated fixed fees for visitors and it has been many years since the prices were adjusted for inflation, he said.
Since the vote, the office has been working on a price scheme that would be lower than those offered by commercial operators, which the council would approve at a later date, Chen said.
The office would hire workers and renovate the bath facilities, a process that would temporarily close the park until April next year at the earliest, he said.
The new prices for the Suao springs would be lower than those currently offered, he said.
Contractors charge adult visitors NT$70 and others NT$40 for using the public baths, but the proposed changes would allow all visitors to use them for free, sources said.
The price for using private bath facilities ranges between NT$200 and NT$600 per unit, depending on the size of the visiting group, they said.
The proposed changes would adjust the prices for using the private facilities to NT$150 per visitor plus an additional guest for free, with an additional fee of NT$200 for each additional visitor, the sources said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
RSS