Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (
"Most of the younger generations from farming villages have relocated to metropolitan areas to pursue careers. Their decision to leave their hometowns has left those places undeveloped," Chang said during yesterday's weekly Cabinet meeting
"We want to renovate these villages and turn them into `garden cities' of the future," he said.
To turn the plan into reality, the Cabinet yesterday approved an administrative order -- the "Plan for Rebuilding Farming Villages" and unveiled a proposal for a new law -- to back the plan.
While the proposed law must be submitted to the legislature, the plan can be implemented immediately because it is covered by the administrative order, which does not require legislative approval.
Chang said the plan would help farming villages improve the daily lives of farmers, including new residential buildings, sewage systems, parks and public services.
"We hope to construct more `garden cities,'" he said.
"Our estimates show that more than 500,000 households in farming villages would benefit from the plan," he said.
Chang said that the Cabinet was planning to spend the NT$100 billion within a decade to renovate more than 4,000 farming villages nationwide.
"Now that the high speed rail system is finished, anyone can travel from one place in Taiwan to another within a day. Improved transportation would make it easier for farming villages to become more developed in terms of the environment and public construction," he said.
"Our bottom line is that this plan will not jeopardize our remaining agricultural production," Chang said.
"It is the government's responsibility to improve the lives of farmers," he said.
Also see story:
Farmland bill praised by realtors
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow