Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said she hopes that a proposal to establish a sea lane transportation route along the east coast would resolve the decades-long traffic issue which has plagued the region’s residents.
Hsiao plans to propose the establishment of a sea lane connecting Suao (蘇澳), Yilan County and Hualien by ferry to ease the current railway ticket shortage and also to cut the commute people have to endure when traveling by highway.
“Once the sea lane is established, it will only take one hour to get to Hualien and the traffic situation along the Suhua Highway will be greatly improved. It will also help address the scarcity of railway tickets,” Hsiao told reporters during a visit to Hualien at the weekend.
The main transport link between eastern and northern Taiwan — the 118km-Suhua Highway – is built into cliffs high above the Pacific Ocean and is notoriously dangerous.
Transportation has long been a “nightmare” for residents in Hualien with railway tickets in limited supply and the coastal highway often being closed due to landslides during the typhoon season.
The ticket issue worsened after Taiwan relaxed regulations on cross-strait travelers, causing an influx of Chinese tourists to the region, Hsiao said.
Most young people from the region — which continues to see a population outflow — work in Taipei and return to Hualien to spend time with their families which makes commuting time an important issue, she said, adding that transportation was also crucial for the region which is known for its agricultural produce.
“Ask residents in eastern Taiwan and I guess more than 90 percent of them would support the proposal — or any proposal which would alleviate the transportation hassle” Hsiao said.
The lawmaker — who represents Hualien constituency — said the project would be a win-win situation for everyone and would help by splitting passenger flow, ensuring availability of transport links during typhoon season, creating another tourist attraction as well as reducing the commute time from between two to three hours down to one.
The costs for such a project would be a lot lower than building a land-based alternative and would be welcomed by the environmentalists, she said, adding that a ferry which could carry passengers, buses and trucks would answer multiple service needs.
There used to be a sea transport line between northern and eastern Taiwan and a Taiwanese company bought a second-hand ferry from Japan in 1975, called the Lupinus, which offered passenger and cargo transport between Keelung Port and Hualien. However, the once popular ferry line was forced to close in 1983 after the North-Link railway line went into operation in 1980.
Hsiao said she is worried that the project could be unprofitable due to high ticket prices and fuel costs and that the service would need to be fully government-funded or it would need to adopt a BOT (built, operate, transfer) model which would include private operators, but she says she is not planning on giving up.
The lawmaker said she would keep pushing the proposal in the upcoming legislative session and plans to organize public hearings on the subject.
“If the government offers transportation subsidies to residents on outlying islands, it would be fair to offer residents of eastern Taiwan the same,” Hsiao said.
“People in eastern Taiwan pay taxes just like those in western Taiwan. They don’t deserve to be treated like second-class citizens,” Hsiao said.
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
‘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
RSS