Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-07-23

1) One of the top stories from this past week was that seven legislative committees passed a preliminary review of a special budget request for the government’s infrastructure plan.

The initial proposal seeks NT$880 billion (US$28.8 billion) in investment over the next eight years. The money is to be spent in areas such as water management, green energy, light rail infrastructure, and digital development. The spending proposal has been met with a strong pushback – both verbal and physical — from the opposition KMT.

Lawmakers from the ruling DPP and the KMT reached a consensus earlier this month to halve the budget to NT$420 billion (US$13.7 billion) and shorten the implementation period from eight to four years.    [FULL  STORY]