Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) yesterday said the ministry intended to budget NT$15 million (US$484,000) next year to conduct an assessment on building an expressway connecting Hualien and Taitung.
Mao made the announcement at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee during a review of the budget plans for Taoyuan International Airport Corp.
However, lawmakers at the committee were more focused on how the ministry intends to address transportation issues for residents along the east coast than they were on the airport company.
Mao said that the assessment would examine the viability of an expressway project from technological, financial, environmental and other perspectives.
He said the proposed expressway and the Suhua Highway would form an expressway system for the east coast.
“Whether we can push for such a major construction depends on whether we can overcome environmental and financial issues,” Mao said.
The Directorate General of Highways (DGH) launched the Suhua Highway Improvement Project last year to improve road conditions in some of the bottleneck sections on the highway.
The project is scheduled to be completed in 2017.
Mao said the government has also been working on electrifying the railway connecting Hualien and Taitung since 2008 to reinforce transportation infrastructure in the east coast.
The cost for all the projects currently in progress surpasses NT$130 billion, he said.
Mao also said the investment in transportation infrastructure on the east coast would exceed NT$200 billion if one includes the direct railway between Taipei and Yilan as well as other projects, which have yet to be launched.
The Directorate General of Highways estimated the cost of the proposed Hualien to Taitung expressway could exceed NT$100 billion.
DGH Director General Wu Meng-feng (吳盟分) said highways 9 and 11 are the two main roads connecting Hualien and Taitung, and the travel time is between three and four hours.
He said that traffic on a normal weekday only usually accounts for about 20 percent of the highway’s designed capacity.
However, congestion at some sections of the highway may occur at the Lunar New Year holiday or long weekends, he added.
Meanwhile, Mao said that DGH is aiming to reopen the Suhua Highway for all types of vehicles before the Lunar New Year holiday begins next February..
The section between Suao (蘇澳) and Tongao (東澳) became inaccessible this month after a part of the road collapsed due to heavy rain.
Mao said that DGH is changing its construction methods, which it hopes would facilitate the reconstruction efforts.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to