The Taipei City Government yesterday said it would gauge public opinion and communicate with the central government after a planned recreational wharf along the Jingmei River met with opposition from residents and city councilors.
The Ministry of Economic Affair’s Water Resource Agency proposed the wharf last year, along with a rubber dam under Hengguang Bridge to allow for water sports such as kayaking.
Taipei City’s Hydraulic Engineering Office was tasked with implementing the project.
EVALUATION
Several Taipei City councilors and a group of Muzha (木柵) residents expressed concern about the project’s impact on the environment and urged the city government and the ministry to conduct an environmental impact evaluation before beginning construction.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Lee Ching-yuan (李慶元) said the agency had budgeted NT$200 million (US$5 million) for the wharf project without presenting an analysis of the impact it would have on the environment and flooding.
DEEPER WATER
Huang Chi-feng, deputy director of the engineering office, said that under the proposal, a 2.5m high rubber dam would be built under the bridge to slow the river and increase its depth for water sports.
This would allow recreational activities on the stretch of river between Hengguang Bridge and Wanfu Bridge near Taipei Zoo, he said.
Residents opposed to the project have teamed up. A representative for the group, Hsu Chi-wei (徐智薇), said the agency should halt the project until it had addressed issues such as public safety and water pollution.
Huang said yesterday the city government had planned to begin the project this year, but the office would hold public hearings with residents and experts first.
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