Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday attended a groundbreaking ceremony for an auxiliary water pipeline to connect Taoyuan’s Shihmen Reservoir (石門水庫) with Hsinchu County.
The pipeline would supply Hsinchu with an additional 15.4 tonnes of water per day, which would ease demand for water from the Hsinchu Science Park and residences, Su said.
A part of the reservoir’s water goes to New Taipei City, including Banciao (板橋), Sindian (新店), Shulin (樹林) and Yingge (鶯歌) districts, which adds to the load at the reservoir, he said.
Photo: Liao Hsueh-ju, Taipei Times
However, that would no longer be the case when the construction of a water pipeline to connect the Feitsui Reservoir (翡翠水庫) in New Taipei City with the districts is completed, Su said.
That pipeline would transport 81 tonnes of water per day, eliminating the need for the Shihmen Reservoir to supply water to New Taipei City, he said.
During his time as commissioner of then-Taipei County (now New Taipei City), he had discovered that much of the area’s water supply comes from Taoyuan, so during his first term as premier from 2006 to 2007, he ordered the construction of the Feitsui pipeline, Su said.
While the Feitsui Reservoir has a large capacity, a large part of the water there is discharged to the sea during typhoons, resulting in poor water utilization, which is a problem that can be ameliorated by building pipelines, he added.
The Feitsui pipeline was originally scheduled to be completed late next year, but he had instructed Taiwan Water Corp to speed up the construction, Su said, without specifying a new deadline.
The Executive Yuan said in a news release that the two-way Taoyuan-Hsinchu pipeline supplies 4.6 tonnes of water per day to Hsinchu.
Su yesterday also revealed that the Executive Yuan has approved a plan to grant an additional NT$1 billion (US$31.77 million) for Hsinchu’s “smile waterfront” project.
The Cabinet had budgeted NT$480 million for the project under the first phase of the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program.
The Water Resources Agency on Friday last week submitted a proposal to raise the budget, Su said.
The waterfront transformation project is aimed at eliminating flooding along Toucian River (頭前溪), in the area known as Zuoan (左岸), and on a 17km stretch of coast by building a waterfront park that can double as a flood retention pool.
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
‘JOINT SWORD’: Whatever President Lai says in his Double Ten speech, China would use it as a pretext to launch ‘punishment’ drills for his ‘separatist’ views, an official said China is likely to launch military drills this week near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming national day speech as a pretext to pressure the nation to accept its sovereignty claims, Taiwanese officials said. China in May launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan shortly after Lai’s inauguration, in what Beijing said was a response to “separatist acts,” sending heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated Lai. The May drills were dubbed “Joint Sword — 2024A” and drew concerns from capitals, including Washington. Lai is to deliver a key speech on Thursday in front of the Presidential Office
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
Celebrations marking Double Ten National Day are to begin in Taipei today before culminating in a fireworks display in Yunlin County on the night of Thursday next week. To start the celebrations, a concert is to be held at the Taipei Dome at 4pm today, featuring a lineup of award-winning singers, including Jody Chiang (江蕙), Samingad (紀曉君) and Huang Fei (黃妃), Taipei tourism bureau official Chueh Yu-ling (闕玉玲) told a news conference yesterday. School choirs, including the Pqwasan na Taoshan Choir and Hngzyang na Matui & Nahuy Children’s Choir, and the Ministry of National Defense Symphony Orchestra, flag presentation unit and choirs,
RSS