《TAIPEI TIMES》 Light rail cost projections baseless, Taipei’s Ko says

By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je （柯文哲） yesterday said the Ministry of Transportation and Communications had only informed, but not communicated with the city government about the planned construction of a light rail system connecting Keelung and Taipei.

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The light rail system is one of the projects in the Cabinet’s Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program.

Ko has repeatedly questioned the merits of the program’s railway projects and especially the light rail system, which he says the ministry failed to discuss with the city before its announcement.

On the sidelines of this year’s Metro Street Dance Competition’s junior preliminary competition, Ko yesterday responded to the ministry’s Friday press release, which stated it had communicated with Ko about the project and that it would continue to discuss matters with the city government.

“The Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ attitude is ‘I have informed you, so I already communicated,’” Ko said. “Please tell the ministry to publicize the minutes [of our discussions].”

Ko said he took issue with the ministry’s budget projections, which come in at about NT$8 billion （US$263 million）, but which it calculated before even deciding on a terminal station or completing its feasibility study

“As I have stressed before, you need to have a plan before you allocate a budget, you cannot allocate a budget before making your plan,” he said.

Otherwise, “you had better not allocate any budget and just say ‘give me the money,’” he said.

The Keelung-Taipei line was one of the first projects presented as part the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program, but now it was being questioned, Ko said, adding that the public might not be so confident in the program’s other components either.

Taipei’s Department of Rapid Transit Systems yesterday in a statement said the ministry and Keelung City Government officials had outlined their preliminary plans for the light rail system to Deputy Mayor Charles Lin （林欽榮） and Taipei City Government officials on Mar. 21.

However, even in the fifth work meeting about the Keelung River basin corridor development project, held on July 18, the plans for the light rail system were no more than a preliminary outline, the statement said.

Ko’s idea of communication is for both sides to discuss concrete plans or construction drawings, not one side merely informing the other about a concept plan lacking details, the statement said.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES