The Taipei County Government will spend NT$770 million (US$23.94 million) before the end of next year to improve the county’s cycle path network to encourage people to commute by bicycle, Taipei County Commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) said yesterday.
Chou made the announcement at the Bitan Scenic Park while hosting a ceremony to launch activities to mark International Car Free Day, which promotes a pollution-free living environment.
Chou urged people to drive less and cycle more to save energy, while pledging to build a low-carbon city with a cycle trail network that would eventually stretch for 128km.
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
The day’s activities featured a green market at the Bitan park, with booths displaying green energy and technologies.
In Kaohsiung City, Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) joined thousands of residents to mark Car Free Day.
In a speech, Chen said that although Kaohsiung is an industrial city, its residents can be proud of the fact that it will have more than 150km of bicycle paths by the end of the year.
Through the government’s promotional efforts, the number of cyclists in Kaohsiung had risen significantly in recent years, Chu said.
To mark Car Free Day, the city government launched a new policy whereby people carrying folding bicycles on city buses would no longer be charged an extra fee.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Many Japanese couples are coming to Taiwan to obtain donated sperm or eggs for fertility treatment due to conservatism in their home country, Taiwan’s high standards and low costs, doctors said. One in every six couples in Japan is receiving infertility treatment, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare data show. About 70,000 children are born in Japan every year through in vitro fertilization (IVF), or about one in every 11 children born. Few people accept donated reproductive cells in Japan due to a lack of clear regulations, leaving treatment in a “gray zone,” Taichung Nuwa Fertility Center medical director Wang Huai-ling (王懷麟)
PROXIMITY: Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location, the Executive Yuan official said Taiwan plans to boost cooperation with the Czech Republic in semiconductor development due to Prague’s pivotal role in the European IC industry, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said. With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) building a wafer fab in the German city of Dresden, a Germany-Czech Republic-Poland “silicon triangle” is forming, Kung said in a media interview on the weekend after returning from a visit to Prague. “Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location,” he said. “Taiwan and Prague have already launched direct flights and it is