The Keelung City Government could avoid a “financial dark period” when building the Keelung MRT line if it focuses on property development along the MRT route, Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said yesterday.
The plan to construct a 16.5km MRT line connecting Badu Railway Station in Keelung and Nangang Railway Station in Taipei was finalized during the administration of former Keelung mayor Lin Yu-chang (林右昌), of the Democratic Progressive Party, who now serves as minister of the interior.
Keelung Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑), of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), said during a live broadcast on Facebook on Sunday that the city must pay NT$5.386 billion (US$176.15 million) toward building the MRT line — three times more than the previous estimate.
Photo: Lu Hsiu-hsien, Taipei Times
That would cause Keelung to plunge into a “dark period” financially, Hsieh said, adding that the central government should pay the full cost.
The Keelung MRT line is expected to cost NT$69.7 billion, NT$51.4 billion of which would be paid by the central government, while the remaining NT$18.3 billion would be paid by the Taipei, Keelung and New Taipei City governments, Wang said.
“The government has a consistent way of dividing the share of construction costs for MRT systems. The Keelung City Government could consider developing properties along the Keelung MRT line, controlling the cost of drafting land from private owners to build the MRT line and focusing on increasing revenue that could be generated through the operation of the line,” he said.
The Railway Bureau said that the current city government was not asked to pay more because of political considerations.
“Construction material costs have risen dramatically in recent years. The city government changed the method of acquiring land to build the MRT line from ‘segment expropriation’ to ‘general expropriation,’ which has also driven up the cost. As the Keelung City Government’s fiscal status has been upgraded from Level 4 to Level 3, the percentage of construction funds paid by the central government has dropped from 86 percent to 84 percent. As such, Keelung’s share of the costs has tripled from NT$1.77 billion to NT$5.386 billion,” the bureau said.
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