The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is proposing to offer an additional NT$25 billion (US$878.73 million) in loans to business operators in the aviation industry as the nation’s borders remain virtually closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday announced the plan in his opening address at a forum on the development of the logistics industry in the post-pandemic era.
In April, the ministry secured NT$50 billion to offer airlines, ground handling service operators and catering providers for airlines as loans or interest subsidies.
Asked about the new plan, Lin told reporters that the fund would provide loans to operators in the aviation industry, as their businesses are expected to continue to suffer next year because of the pandemic.
The ministry proposed the plan to the Executive Yuan last week, he said.
The ministry is also proposing to extend the subsidy program to compensate salaries of workers at international airports until the first half of next year, he said.
Lin said that part of the funding for the new plan would come from the ministry, while the rest would come from interdepartmental funding allocated through the relief fund packages.
“We hope to coordinate with other government agencies on this matter, as some of them have yet to use up relief funds in certain categories that were allocated to them through the Executive Yuan’s relief fund packages,” Lin said.
Ministry officials said that the NT$50 billion package for the aviation industry has nearly been depleted.
As the government has yet to lift restrictions at the nation’s borders and international flight carriers are still sustaining financial losses, the ministry proposed the additional NT$25 billion in loans, they said.
Aviation business operators could start filing applications for loans once the Executive Yuan approves the ministry’s proposal, they said, adding that their applications would be subject to review by the ministry and the Small and Medium Enterprise Credit Guarantee Fund of Taiwan.
Lin also said that a trade dispute between the US and China over the past two years has caused many high-tech companies to relocate supply chains outside of China to spread their risks.
As global supply chains are reshuffling, Taiwan could use the opportunity to develop the high value-added processing industry, he said.
“We can use the aviation network and free-trade zone at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, the broad hinterland at the Port of Taipei and Chunghwa Post’s express deliveries to attract investments from some key component manufacturers and create new supply chains,” Lin said.
“We have identified the cross-border e-commerce service, cargo delivery combining air and sea transport services and cold-chain technology as having the most potential for development in the nation,” he added.
Lin said that the ministry plans to allocate NT$1.9 billion to address traffic congestion at the Linkou (林口) Interchange on Sun Yat-Sen Freeway (Freeway No. 1), which is the main route to the Chunghwa Post Logistics Park.
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do