Taipei,Sept.24,2012(CENS)--The Executive Yuan(the Cabinet)will finalize the major port construction for international harbora program this week,which calls for NT$65.975 billion of investments in five years.Sixty-five percent of the budget will be spent in the construction of Kaohsiung Harbor,with the aim of transforming Kaohsiung into a hub harbor of the Asia-Pacific region,according to the program formulated by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications(MOTC).
A ranking official noted that the construction of aviation and marine transportation hubs is a major goal of the governmentas golden 10 years program.For aviation,the government will develop Taoyuan aviation city and transform Taoyuan International Airport into an aviation hub of East Asia;for marine transportation,the goal is to develop Kaohsiung into an Asia-Pacific hub harbor.
The Kaohsiung harbor development project will be carried out along with the development of Nanhsing development project,which spans 100 hectares of land in space.In the first stage,a free trade harbor zone,spanning 64 hectares in space,will be built and may become the first free-economy exemplary zone in Taiwan.The Council for Economic Planning and Development(CEPD)is scheduled to roll out free-economy exemplary zonea program in November.
According to the MOTC plan,the government will invest NT$42.87 billion for a number of major construction projects in Kaohsiung,including the second-phase project of intercontinental container terminal,renovation of docks 115-117,development of Nanhsing land,elevated roads for external transportation,and rear-end land development for the second container terminal.
In addition to Kaohsiung Harbor,portion construction will also be carried out for other harbors,including Taichung Harbor,Keelung Harbor,Taipei Harbor,Suao Harbor,and Anping Harbor,to boost their capacities and expand economic hinterland.
The program is scheduled for completion in 2016,when the container handling capacity of the islands harbors will reach 18 million TEU(twenty-foot equivalent units)annually and the annual revenue of Taiwan International Ports Corp.will top NT$30 billion.In addition,the annual number of marine passengers will reach 1.3 million,greatly enhancing the businesses of international cruise ships and cross-Taiwan Strait ferryboats.
(by Philip Liu)
