‘AUTHORITARIANISM’:A light rail project that costs NT$30 billion was described with a few hundred words, suggesting a hasty process, publisher Rex How said
Taipei Times
Date: Jun 13, 2017
By: Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter
Publisher and former national policy adviser Rex How (郝明義) has launched an online petition urging
From left, National Chengchi University professor Hsu Shih-jung, National Taiwan Normal University assistant professor and artist Yao Jui-chung, former national policy adviser Rex How and Watchout chief executive Lin Tzu-yi attend a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
the government to conduct a thorough review of and hold a public debate on the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program to prevent unnecessary spending.
The eight-year, NT$882.49 billion (US$29.24 billion) project is expected to be approved in the extraordinary legislative session starting tomorrow, but How and a coalition of campaigners yesterday launched a signature drive to call on the government to re-examine the program.
They asked the government to elucidate the necessity of each of the infrastructure projects in the program, their source of funding, and benefit and social impact, as well as possible alternatives to each program and an estimated number of jobs to be created.
The drive was launched through the National Development Council’s policy discussion forum, as the government is required to reply to any petition launched on the forum which is signed by more than 5,000 people within two months. [FULL STORY]
