Maximum spending on the second phase of the Cabinet’s Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program was set at NT$510 billion (US$17.24 billion) after the Legislative Yuan yesterday approved a funds ceiling, which was bolstered by NT$90 billion left over from the first phase.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said at the Executive Yuan in Taipei that ministries should comply with requests from the National Development Council (NDC), the Directorate-General of Budgeting, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) and others to complete a detailed financial plan by the middle of this month.
The program, initiated on July 7, 2017, is to facilitate infrastructure for transportation, hydraulic engineering, green energy, smart technology, balancing advancements in urban and rural areas, as well as improved facilities for raising children, food safety and fostering talent, the NDC Web site says.
Photo: CNA
Ministries should be careful about budget allocations, and improve collaboration and mutual understanding, Su said.
The first phase of the project was given NT$420 billion from September 2017 to August next year, but NT$90 billion is yet to be allocated.
According to the Special Act on the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program (前瞻基礎建設特別條例), funding for the second phase should only be allotted after a legislative review, and should not exceed the ceiling or scale of the first phase.
In related news, Su said that he instructed the Ministry of Economic Affairs to accelerate the introduction of 5G networking and adoption of artificial intelligence systems.
The ministry briefed Su on its plans to make Taiwan a hub for advanced manufacturing and semiconductor engineering.
Service providers this week announced the commencement of 5G services in Taiwan.
If the nation becomes self-sufficient in semiconductor production, and research and development of related technology, it could become a major link in the global supply chain, which would increase incentives for foreign investment and bolster firms’ competitiveness, Su said.
The local semiconductor industry should seek to be self-sufficient in materials production, and in research and development of technology and equipment, he said.
The output value of the nation’s semiconductor industry last year was NT$2.7 trillion, the second-highest globally, the ministry said.
Last year, demand for semiconductor equipment in Taiwan was valued at NT$513 billion, or 28 percent of global demand, while demand for semiconductor products was NT$330.6 billion, or 22 percent of global demand, the ministry said.
It pledged to enlarge the nation’s semiconductor manufacturing capabilities and to attract more foreign investment to the industry.
It is optimistic that the value of the Taiwanese semiconductor industry would be NT$5 trillion by 2030 once it has achieved complete self-sufficiency, the ministry said.
Additional reporting by CNA
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching