The estimated completion date for the Kaohsiung MRT’s new Yellow Line has been extended to 2034, with operations to begin on some sections two years earlier in 2032, Kaohsiung Deputy Mayor Charles Lin (林欽榮) said today.
Lin was answering questions from city councilors, who asked whether the line would be finished by 2028 as originally estimated.
Material prices have pushed up the overall cost of the project 62.8 percent from NT$144 billion to NT$235 billion (US$4.42 billion to US$7.21 billion), Lin said, adding that the central government has agreed to the increased cost.
Photo copied by Wang Jung-hsiang, Taipei Times
However, due to the adjustments, the central government has asked for a delayed timeline, he added.
The line is to open in sections, starting with stations Y1 to Y5, then stations Y5 to Y18, he said.
A commuter transit line is a major infrastructure project and cannot be rushed, Lin added.
Photo courtesy of the Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit Bureau
Of the additional funds needed, the Kaohsiung City Government is only responsible for NT$4.03 billion, he said, adding that it is within the affordable range.
It was earlier announced that Kaohsiung would be responsible for NT$60.82 billion of the original estimated cost of NT$144 billion.
The proposed Yellow Line would connect Kaohsiung’s Red and Orange MRT lines, as well as a light-rail system and a railway station.
It is to pass through Niaosong (鳥松), Sanmin (三民), Lingya (苓雅), Sinsing (新興), Fongshan (鳳山) and Cianjhen (前鎮) districts, and serve 1.16 million people, or about 41.8 percent of the city’s population, the Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit Bureau said when the plan was approved in 2022.
Additional reporting by CNA
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by