The Taichung City Government should be admonished for its inaction over the Taichung International Airport Gateway Project, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taichung City Councilor Yang Tien-chung (楊典忠) said on Friday during a review of the project.
The project aims to integrate the airport and the Port of Taichung, positioning them as hubs for manufacturing, trade and logistics in the Asia-Pacific region, while supporting domestic industries.
International flight routes serving Taichung have increased to 26 and there has been a steady rise in travelers using the airport, Yang said.
Photo courtesy of Yang Tien-chung
However, parking at the airport is insufficient and supporting facilities are underdeveloped, he said.
Some Taichung councilors have complained that public transportation serving the city’s central Fengyuan District (豐原) is severely lacking, he said.
The Taichung Transportation Bureau said that on weekdays there are 68 bus routes serving the airport and 70 on weekends and holidays — comprising about 10 percent of public transportation serving the airport — and it would continue to do what it can to address transportation issues.
While the city government has assessed the viability of an airport MRT route, expanding the main road to the airport and adding freeway exits that would increase access, the cornerstone of the development plan — the Gateway Project — has seen no progress, Yang said.
Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen’s (盧秀燕) administration wants to bring Taichung closer to the international community, but despite eight years in office, people visiting Taichung still walk out of the airport and are greeted by residents hanging their laundry, Yang said.
Proposals submitted by the city government to the central government have failed to meet additional documentation requirements requested by the Ministry of the Interior in 2018, he said.
DPP Taichung Councilor Wang Li-jen (王立任) said that the lack of progress on the project, despite the growth in travel to Taichung, highlights the city government’s failure to keep up with demand.
Taichung Urban Development Bureau Director Lee Cheng-wei (李正偉) said that the project has not moved forward because the central government has not made its stance clear on what it envisions for the airport.
The uncertainty has affected the municipal government’s effort to develop the region, Lee said.
Yang said that the central government should not be blamed.
Even if there were an impasse, legislators from Taichung or Lu should step in and engage in discussions with the central government, he added.
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