Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday accused former premier Simon Chang (張善政), who is the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate for Taoyuan mayor, of obstructing the city’s recently completed underground rail while serving as vice premier seven years ago.
The legislators were responding to allegations against Chang by Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬), who is campaigning as the DPP incumbent.
Chang’s campaign claims that he played a positive role in building the rail system are baseless, DPP caucus director Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) told a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
Photo: CNA
The facts do not agree with any version of Chang’s account, he said, adding that “Chang obstructed the project while he was in office and then lied about it to win votes.
Showing a document the Executive Yuan purportedly filed to the city in 2015, DPP legislative caucus deputy director Huang Shih-chieh (黃世杰) said that Chang, who was at the time vice premier, refused release funds for the project on grounds that the central government’s NT$19.9 billion (US$638.68 million at the current exchange rate) allocation was meant for a rail bridge, not an underground system.
The Executive Yuan had pledged NT$80 billion of the rail project’s estimated cost of NT$100 billion, he said, citing the document.
Chang’s criticism that Cheng should be blamed for the project’s late completion is baseless, as Chang had placed the fiscal burden on the city and caused the delay, Huang said.
Credit for the underground rail belongs to Cheng, who fought to obtain funding as a lawmaker representing the city and then as its mayor, he said, adding that the project was approved by Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) last year.
Chang “seems to have forgotten the whole thing and instead is trying to get credit for a project he obstructed,” Huang said, adding that he is “a person without a shred of integrity.”
Chang campaign spokesman Ho Yuan-kai (何元楷) said that the DPP allegations were a smear intended to distract attention from a corruption scandal in Cheng’s administration.
Cheng’s election tactics were “lamentable and disappointing,” Ho said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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