The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday accused the government of not being proactive enough in addressing the water shortage and said that the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program failed to prevent the situation.
Under the program, the Executive Yuan is to invest about NT$250.8 billion (US$8.77 billion) over eight years to build a quality water environment project, with a special budget of NT$110 billion allocated for its first phase from 2017 to this year, the KMT said.
The project’s aim is to build an environment without water shortages or flooding, where people have access to quality drinking water and water is a part of public recreation, it said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
It also set a goal to increase regular water supply by 1 million tonnes per day and emergency water supply by 2 million tonnes per day, it said.
The project is in its fourth year, but the Ministry of Economic Affairs has not given the public a clear account of how much of those goals it has achieved, KMT Culture and Communications Committee director-general Alicia Wang (王育敏) told a news conference in Taipei.
She urged the ministry to provide the public with an update on the project’s progress, including its effectiveness and completion rate.
Besides lack of rainfall, poor dredging practices have also contributed to low water levels at the nation’s reservoirs, she said.
The overall sedimentation rate across the nation’s reservoirs was 29.59 percent in August last year, up from 28 percent in June 2015, the KMT said, citing Water Resources Agency statistics.
“Where was all the money spent?” Wang asked, adding that despite the implementation of the program, dredging efforts have declined.
Since August last year, there have been warning signs of tightening water supplies, committee deputy director-general Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) said.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) should personally inspect water supplies at the nation’s reservoirs, she said, adding that former presidents Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had done so when the nation faced similar situations in 2015 and 2005 respectively.
Water shortages affect not just ordinary citizens, but could also have an impact on the business sector, economy and industries, or even cause social problems, committee deputy director-general Huang Tzu-che (黃子哲) said, urging the president to address the issue.
In October last year, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) wrote on Facebook that the nation was facing an unprecedented challenge with the typhoon season seeing the least rainfall in four decades, Huang said.
Su also wrote that as no one knew how much rainfall there would be each year, the nation needed to always be prepared for water shortages, Huang added.
Water restrictions have now been imposed, he said, questioning what preparations the Executive Yuan has made.
The government has not put enough effort into solving the water shortage, Alicia Wang said, adding that the president should personally direct the government’s response.
She recommended that the government use television commercials to remind the public to conserve water.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “[we] appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe