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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Taipei mayor loses Luzhou Line battle
A train draws into the Taipei MRT’s Guting Station on Feb. 29, 2012. Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
WHO PAYS? Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je said there had been a ‘financial dispute’ with the central government after the Taiwan Provincial Government was abolished
By Sean Lin and Shelley Shan / Staff reporters
The High Administrative Court in Taipei yesterday ruled against the Taipei City Government in a lawsuit lodged by the municipality against the Ministry of Transportation and Communications requesting that the ministry pay NT$9.98 billion （US$308 million） of the construction costs of the Taipei MRT Luzhou （Lujhou） Line.
The Luzhou Line has been in service since 2010. An extension from Fu Jen Catholic University to New Taipei City’s Huilong （迴龍） was completed in 2013.
According an agreement between the municipality and the central government, the city government should pay 15.41 percent, or NT$20.92 billion, of the NT$135.77 billion construction fees.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je （柯文哲） in 2014 filed a lawsuit against the ministry, claiming that based on the track length to New Taipei City, the ministry should contribute NT$9.98 billion toward the Taipei City Government’s construction costs.
Ko yesterday said that he was not sure how the expenditure should be distributed between the central government and the municipal government.
Ko said there had been a “financial dispute” between the city and the central government after the Taiwan Provincial Government was abolished in 1997, which waived the portion originally due from the provincial government.
He said he would call an internal meeting to ascertain how the expenditure should be split.
The Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said that as of April, the municipality had payed NT$10.22 billion toward the construction fees for the Luzhou Line.
It said that it would consult its lawyers before deciding whether to appeal the ruling.
The ministry said in a statement yesterday that it respected the court’s decision.
The ministry said the construction fund for the Luzhou Line was NT$167.69 billion.
“The self-liquidating part of the funding should be jointly paid by the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp and the Taipei City Government. The former was asked to pay its share of funding through ticket sale revenues after the Luzhou Line was operational, whereas the latter would pay its portion from the development of properties along the line,” the ministry said.
“The two agencies are responsible for the self-liquidating part of the funding based on the financial plan approved by the Executive Yuan. As such, the ministry was never supposed to pay any funds to the Taipei City Government,” the ministry added.
The ministry said that the self-liquidating construction fund is about NT$25.84 billion, which should be paid collectively by the Taipei City Government （4.38 percent）, the now-defunct Taiwan Provincial Government （7.35 percent） and the New Taipei City Government （3.68 percent）.
The rest of the funding — NT$141.84 billion — was to be paid by the central government （63.44 percent）, the Taipei City Government （6.02 percent）, the now-defunct Taiwan Provincial Government （10.09 percent） and the New Taipei City Government （5.04 percent）.
However, the central government is now obligated to pay 73.53 percent of the funding by picking up the tab assigned to the now-defunct Taiwan Provincial Government.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
