The government could find it difficult to achieve the goals it set out for the NT$500 billion (US$14.4 billion) special four-year budget, as the plan lacks long-term strategies to help the nation’s economy recover and thrive, analysts said.
Under the economic stimulus plan, which has yet to be discussed in the legislature, the government would spend NT$150.6 billion this year on top of the NT$1.8096 trillion in annual expenditure.
After reviewing the spending items in the budget request, Tu Jenn-hwa (杜震華), an associate professor of economics at National Taiwan University’s Graduate Institute of National Development, said he doubted the plan would boost the economy.
“[The proposal] is reminiscent of research by the World Bank on why its aid projects in developing countries did not achieve good results [because] recipients ate into funds that were supposed to be used in the projects. They did that for their personal use — and that’s aside from the corruption problem,” Tu said.
Tu said that many items in the special budget were not supposed to be included.
“The money earmarked for specific purpose should be spent on ‘newly created’ and ‘emergent’ projects to help drive the economy, projects that are not covered by the government’s annual budget,” he said.
Citing some funds to be used on hardware upgrades at government agencies, Tu said: “This is a waste of resources. Such inefficiency will counter the desired effects of the stimulus plan.”
“The government will not cut its annual budget for the next few years, even though some expenses are covered in the special budget. This will result in unnecessary spending,” he said.
Tu said the government should rewrite the budget to deliver on the promises made by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) last Saturday that the government would help strengthen six emerging industries — tourism, medical care, biotechnology, green energy, culture and creativity, and quality agriculture.
“The special budget should be used efficiently to lay the foundations for the country’s long-term development,” Tu said. “This includes setting up state-of-the-art museums to attract tourists, or increasing computer usage in rural communities, where information is desperately needed to help farmers manage production and avoid surplus problems.”
The way the funds are to be allotted and a main approach for distributing the money — directly to township offices — make the economic stimulus plan look like pork-barrel projects, he said.
Given the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) majority in the legislature, the chances that the budget will be adopted are extremely high, Tu said, adding that the government should put monitoring mechanisms in place to ensure the money does not disappear as a result of corruption.
Lin Wan-i (林萬億), a professor of sociology at National Taiwan University, said the four-year budget showed that the government not only failed to recognize the problems facing the country and the changes taking place in the world, but that it was also confused about how to lead the country to a better future.
According to the budget statement, the NT$15.6 billion would be used in 64 major programs aimed at improving transportation networks, culture and quality of life, living environments, national competitiveness and help stabilize the job market and education system.
Among the budgetary items, aside from the NT$37.2 billion earmarked to assist students facing financial difficulties, help them find employment and cultivate talent, the rest of the money would be spent on items involving capital expenditure.
Lin said that many capital expenditure items were supposed to be covered by the annual budget as they were “everyday items” such as enhancing the safety of the railway system, resolving leak problems caused by aging water pipelines, dredging irrigation system and so on.
Larger projects included an extension to Taipei City’s MRT Nangang line, the establishment of the Xinyi line, railway grade separation projects in Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung, repairing badly damaged bridges, rehabilitating hillsides as well as expanding sewage systems and storm water sewer systems.
Lin said that appropriating money from a special budget funded by loans to the government would cause many problems.
“[Construction projects] often cost more than what is actually required. Roads could be dug up again and again for no reason other than using the entire budget, a process during which some people will line their pockets. Oftentimes, these small and fragmentary construction projects damage the environment,” he said.
On top of that, “such squandering will saddle our descendents with debts,” he said.
Lin criticized the government for failing to use the opportunity to address the fundamental problems that have beset the country for a long time and instead proposing a budget that would waste money.
“The government should have included some visionary plans for the country’s development. It could just as well spend NT$500 billion or more in preparatory works for a long-term care system for senior citizens or subsidize people who would like to work in remote areas where there is a serious lack of teachers,” he said.
Wang To-far (王塗發), an adjunct professor of economics at National Taipei University, said he had found many examples of the government playing fast and loose with taxpayers’ money in the budget plan.
About 30 percent of the budget was written as subsidies for local governments, Wang said.
“Without each item of expenditure detailed in the plan, it seems to me that the money is to be used to guarantee the support of local political factions who can in turn help the KMT solicit votes in future elections,” he said.
A former legislator, Wang said that many of the spending items concerning flood prevention and land subsidence control overlapped with items that were included in the “eight-year, NT$116 billion flood prevention” plan implemented by the former Democratic Progressive Party administration, which was approved by the legislature in 2006 and will last until 2014.
Reserving some of the money for trips abroad also didn’t make sense, he said.
“Is there really a sense of urgency now that officials need to conduct overseas business trips — on borrowed money? Will the money spent overseas help the country’s economy?” Wang asked.
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
The Chinese wife of a Taiwanese, surnamed Liu (劉), who openly advocated for China’s use of force against Taiwan, would be forcibly deported according to the law if she has not left Taiwan by Friday, National Immigration Agency (NIA) officials said yesterday. Liu, an influencer better known by her online channel name Yaya in Taiwan (亞亞在台灣), obtained permanent residency via marriage to a Taiwanese. She has been reported for allegedly repeatedly espousing pro-unification comments on her YouTube and TikTok channels, including comments supporting China’s unification with Taiwan by force and the Chinese government’s stance that “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China.” Liu
MINOR DISRUPTION: The outage affected check-in and security screening, while passport control was done manually and runway operations continued unaffected The main departure hall and other parts of Terminal 2 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport lost power on Tuesday, causing confusion among passengers before electricity was fully restored more than an hour later. The outage, the cause of which is still being investigated, began at about midday and affected parts of Terminal 2, including the check-in gates, the security screening area and some duty-free shops. Parts of the terminal immediately activated backup power sources, while others remained dark until power was restored in some of the affected areas starting at 12:23pm. Power was fully restored at 1:13pm. Taoyuan International Airport Corp said in a