Opposition legislators condemned Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday for blaming an accident at one of the city's mass rapid transit (MRT) system construction sites on the legislature.
"Hsieh is being irresponsible. He wants to exceed his responsibilities. The accident with the MRT was simply a construction mishap, and has nothing to do with the budget," Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wang Chung-yu (
Wang was the first chairman of the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corporation.
"Hsieh said that if the budget does not pass soon, then there would be more accidents at construction sites. If that's really the case, then the authorities should halt construction immediately and Hsieh should resign to take responsibility," Wang said.
Allotments for the Taipei and Kaohsiung MRT projects have been included in the budget for the 10 key infrastructure projects, estimated at NT$500 billion over five years.
The opposition has demanded the Cabinet separate the MRT budget from other projects and handle it according to debt-ceiling regulations because they entail ongoing expenses.
The Executive Yuan and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus, however, insisted that the projects should proceed together as part of one budgetary package.
"This year the budgets for the Taipei and Kaohsiung MRTs have been prepared within the NT$500 billion construction package. The budget still hasn't been passed, and the Kaohsiung City Government is already facing financial problems," DPP caucus whip Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said, urging opposition caucuses to change their minds and agree to the budget.
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A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm earlier today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, in this year's Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am, the CWA said. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) with a 100km radius, it said. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA meteorologist Huang En-hung (黃恩宏) said. However, a more accurate forecast would be made on Wednesday, when Yinxing is
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