The nation’s longest bike lane, measuring 87.5km, was inaugurated yesterday, connecting Yunlin County, Chiayi County and Tainan, as the Council of Agriculture pledged to plant 100,000 trees along the trail.
Constructed by the Irrigation Agency, the bike lane passes the Chianan Irrigation Canal (嘉南大圳) and parts of the Chianan Plain (嘉南平原), which is the center of Taiwan’s agriculture, council Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said at an inauguration ceremony in Tainan.
The bike lane begins in Yunlin’s Linnei Township (林內) and ends near the Wusanto Reservoir (烏山頭水庫) in Tainan’s Guantian District (官田).
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsun, Taipei Times
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and other government officials joined hundreds of volunteers at the opening ceremony to plant trees endemic to Taiwan along the bike lane.
The council is planning to plant 100,000 trees along the route to help reduce the effects of carbon emissions, Chen said.
People riding along the lane could get to know the diversity of Taiwan’s agriculture, as well as the irrigation system, including facilities built a century ago during the Japanese colonial era, Chen added.
Tsai praised the Irrigation Agency for improving the environment surrounding the Chianan canal as part of the route’s construction.
The path is one of the seven bike lanes, pedestrian lanes or hiking trails that the government has been building or renovating over the past few years across Taiwan, Tsai said.
The new cycling route would enable people to experience the rich natural and historical resources in the area, and give them a glimpse of Taiwan’s beauty, she added.
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
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