Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) took office as Taipei mayor yesterday, pledging to deal with the long-drawn out Taipei Dome problem, traffic congestion in Neihu District (內湖) and urban renewal issues as soon as possible.
At an inauguration ceremony at Taipei City Hall in the morning, Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) stepped down after eight years as mayor and handed the mayor’s seal over to Chiang, the youngest Taipei mayor ever elected.
It was Taipei’s eighth inauguration ceremony to swear in a mayor.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
Ko said he advised Chiang’s administrative team that when facing tough choices, they should imagine themselves looking back to the present from 50 years in the future and the answer would be clear.
Ko said he hopes Chiang and his administrative team would uphold honesty and integrity in governance.
Most importantly, they should not sacrifice long-term interests for short-term ones, nor sacrifice the majority’s interests for those of a few people, or sacrifice national interests for party interests, he said.
The Taipei City Council in June passed self-governance regulations to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, which would be an important task for Chiang, he said.
In his inaugural address, Chiang said he has taken on the important task of guiding Taipei forward.
He understands that amid competition from international cities and facing an ever-changing global situation, a city that does not move forward would fall behind, so he would always strive to be better, Chiang said.
His team would pursue “four windows of opportunity”: making Taipei a prosperous city; making it a city where talented people would be willing to stay and could pursue creative endeavors; renewing Taipei to make it a modern city with more environmentally friendly buildings; and promoting Taipei’s local features and urban tourism to make it a charming city with cultural heritage, he said.
Chiang said he would meet with city departments to understand their needs and collect their opinions, and enable administrative operations to run smoothly.
He would speed up the handling of the Taipei Dome project, the Neihu traffic problem and urban renewal issues, he said.
Chiang reiterated his promise to finish the Taipei Dome construction project within a year of taking office, as well as resolve traffic congestion that has long been a serious concern for Neihu residents.
He has also pledged new urban renewal policies to Taipei residents, so he must get to work as soon as possible, Chiang said.
Newly elected and re-elected mayor and county commissioners nationwide were also sworn in yesterday.
Seven of the 17 NT$10 million (US$311,604) winning receipts from the November-December uniform invoice lottery remain unclaimed as of today, the Ministry of Finance said, urging winners to redeem their prizes by May 5. The reminder comes ahead of the release of the winning numbers for the January-February lottery tomorrow. Among the unclaimed receipts was one for a NT$173 phone bill in Keelung, while others were for a NT$5,913 purchase at Costco in Taipei's Neihu District (內湖), a NT$49 purchase at a FamilyMart in New Taipei City's Tamsui District (淡水), and a NT$500 purchase at a tea shop in New Taipei City's
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3
Deliveries of delayed F-16V jets are expected to begin in September, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said today, after senior defense officials visited the US last week. The US in 2019 approved a US$8 billion sale of Lockheed Martin F-16 jets to Taiwan, a deal that would take the nation’s F-16 fleet to more than 200 jets, but the project has been hit by issues including software problems. Koo appeared today before a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which is discussing different versions of the special defense budget this week. The committee is questioning officials today,
RSS