The New Taipei City Department of Rapid Transit Systems yesterday urged the Executive Yuan to approve a proposed MRT line connecting Sijhih District (汐止) and Taipei’s Donghu (東湖) area to get the project moving.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) earlier in the day visited Sijhih to hear a report on plans for the line.
While there, he thanked former minister of transportation and communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) for facilitating the plan and incumbent minister Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) for taking over the project.
Photo: CNA
“Thanks to the understanding and cooperation of the mayors of Taipei, New Taipei City and Keelung, we have made some progress today,” he said.
The department said in a news release yesterday that the transport ministry preliminarily approved the plan for the Sijhih-Donghu Line in March and the city government submitted a revised plan in May to the Executive Yuan for review.
The New Taipei City Government has allocated a budget of NT$20.5 billion (US$684.47 million), including NT$2.9 billion which should be paid back by the Taipei City Government, while the central government is to provide NT$5.8 billion for the project, it said.
The line can improve transportation problems in Keelung, and share stations and the Shekou terminal with the Keelung MRT Line, it said, adding that the government hoped the Cabinet could approve the plan as soon as possible.
Lin, who is the Democratic Progressive Party’s candidate for New Taipei City mayor, on Facebook yesterday thanked the premier for announcing in February that the government would prioritize the construction of the Sijhih-Donghu Line.
Sijhih is an important intersection connecting Keelung and Taipei, he said, adding that local residents and commuters all suffer from the postponement of the line’s construction.
While the originally proposed MRT Minsheng-Sijhih Line was postponed for years, as the Taipei City Government prioritized the Metro circular line, the Sijhih-Donghu Line made no progress., he said.
While serving as transport minister, he found that the overlap between the Keelung MRT Line and the Minsheng-Sijhih Line made it difficult for all parties involved to reach a consensus, he said.
He thus established a communication platform in 2020, inviting Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), Keelung Mayor Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) to meet and discuss the project, he added.
The efforts resulted in the integration of the east side of the Minsheng-Sijhih Line — which has been named the Sijhih-Donghu Line — and the Keelung MRT Line, he said, adding that this would benefit nearly 1 million residents in Keelung, Sijhih and Taipei’s Neihu (內湖) and Nangang (南港) district.
The planned Sijhih-Donghu Line can connect the Wenhu Line (文湖線) and Bannan Line (板南線) to further facilitate transportation in the Taipei metropolitan area, as well as stimulate the development of Keelung and Sijhih, he added.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS