Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief as the city managed to preserve its right to host the 2009 World Games by completing an indoor arena for the international sports event prior to the Aug. 28 deadline.
Chen said she could relax after learning that the Kaohsiung Arena, the site of the World Games scheduled for July next year, had acquired its usage permit.
With the arena having obtained the necessary permits, the city is now ready to hold warm-up contests for the Games as scheduled next month, she said.
Work on the arena began on Aug. 13, 2004, and was expected to be completed within two years. But serious delays in the construction raised the ire of the International World Games Association, the body responsible for the World Games.
The association threatened to take away Kaohsiung’s right to host the Games if the arena could not be completed in time for the warm-up competitions.
On a visit to the new arena, Chen expressed her gratitude to the engineers and workers who completed the facility ahead of the deadline.
The Kaohsiung Arena, which was built as a BOT (build-operate-transfer) project by China Steel affiliate Kaohsiung Arena Development Corp at a cost of NT$6.7 billion (US$210 million), is a 15,000-seat multi-functional facility.
The city government provided subsidies of NT$1.5 billion for the construction of the facility, which will be operated by Kaohsiung Arena Development Corp for the next 50 years.
Also yesterday, the city invited the public to attend an international regatta at the Port of Kaohsiung at the weekend and to cheer for the competitors, a local official said Friday.
An official from the city government’s Marine Bureau, which organized the event, said the inshore race would be held at the port’s Honorary Pier (光榮碼頭) and at Sizihwan (西子灣).
A total of 81 local and foreign competitors will sail 11 keel boats registered in Hong Kong, Australia, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan, the official said.
The two-day regatta will include sailing, canoeing and surf-boarding competitions, the official said, adding that a lottery would be held on the opening day.
Additional information is available on the Kaohsiung City Government Web site.
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
Air and rail traffic around Taiwan were disrupted today while power cuts occurred across the country as Typhoon Kong-rey, predicted to make landfall in eastern Taiwan this afternoon, continued edging closer to the country. A total of 241 passenger and cargo flights departing from or arriving at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport were canceled today due to the typhoon, Taoyuan International Airport Corp said. As of 9:30am, 109 inbound flights, 103 outbound flights and 29 cargo flights had been canceled, the company said. Taiwan Railway Corp also canceled all express trains on its Western Trunk Line, Eastern Trunk Line, South-Link Line and attached branches
Typhoon Kong-rey is forecast to make landfall in eastern Taiwan this afternoon and would move out to sea sometime overnight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 9am today, Kong-rey's outer rim was covering most of Taiwan except for the north. The storm's center was 110km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost tip, and moving northwest at 28kph. It was carrying maximum sustained winds near its center of 184kph, and gusts of up to 227kph, the CWA said. At a news conference this morning, CWA forecaster Chu Mei-lin (朱美霖) said Kong-rey is moving "extremely fast," and is expected to make landfall between
RSS