The Cabinet yesterday approved a proposal that would earmark NT$50 billion (US$1.56 billion) to a six-year plan to resolve a sedimentation problem plaguing Zengwun Reservoir (曾文水庫), Nanhua Reservoir (南化水庫) and Wushantou Reservoir (烏山頭水庫).
Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) told a press conference following the Cabinet meeting that the three major dams in southern Taiwan were threatened by a significant increase in silt deposits after Typhoon Morakot hit the country last August.
The Water Resources Agency (WRA) said that 91 million cubic meters had accumulated in Zengwun Reservoir and 36 million cubic meters in Nanhua Reservoir after the typhoon, which together had amounted to the total storage capacity of Nanhua Reservoir.
In the Wushantou Reservoir, silt deposits have filled about 44 percent of its storage capacity, it said.
Shih said the draft statute drawn by the ministry would impose a series of prohibitions on development to preserve and restore the upstream part of the watershed areas of the three reservoirs.
If the legislature passes the bill, any new projects to build sediment storage dams should be compatible with the Aboriginal Basic Act (原住民基本法), and these areas would be made off limits to any road construction or expansion projects.
The Cabinet yesterday also approved a proposal by the Sports Affairs Council to promote baseball, which is reeling from a game-fixing scandal involving several players from different teams.
Prosecutors on Wednesday indicted 24 professional baseball players over their alleged involvement in match-fixing scandals.
Sports Affairs Council Minister Tai Hsia-ling (戴遐齡) said the council and the Ministry of Education had proposed not appointing players found guilty of involvement in gambling scandals as teachers or coaches in schools, as well as banning them from playing in the amateur baseball league for life.
Tai said that prosecutors would be stationed in playing fields when the baseball season starts late next month to prevent gangsters from influencing the games.
She added that the government would soon amend the Sports Lottery Issue Act (運動彩券發行條例) to impose heavier penalties on players involved in gambling scandals.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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