Taiwan's Incoming Minister Calls for Review of Airport Bill

TAIPEI, May 14 Asia Pulse - Incoming Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo called Tuesday for a temporary halt to Friday's screening by lawmakers of a bill concerning the upgrading of the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport -- Taiwan's main gateway -- in northern Taiwan.

Mao issued the call during an informal gathering with reporters, citing the incoming Executive Yuan's need for more time to negotiate with the Legislative Yuan to resolve their differences over the controversial bill.

According to Mao, he has discussed the bill with several lawmakers and has asked them not to dwell on it before the Kuomintang (KMT) government assumes office May 20.

The KMT administration will need more time to better assess and study the bill, as the outgoing Executive Yuan has failed to put forward its own version of the draft -- a situation that could lead to disputes among different government agencies and the Legislative Yuan in the screening process, he said.

"The new Executive Yuan feels it is necessary to conduct inter-ministerial coordination to forge common ground before it starts negotiations with the Legislative Yuan on the controversial bill," he explained.

Commenting on the bill's purpose of making the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport back into a world-class airport -- as it was in the 1970s and 1980s -- Mao said the goal coincides with his ministry's priority.

The incoming Ministry of Transportation and Communications has resolved to rebuild the airport into a global transportation hub, regardless of whether or not there is such a bill, he said.

As to the question of whether the airport will restore its former name, Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, as it was known before the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) changed it -- Mao said that this will not be his ministry's top priority.

Taoyuan Magistrate Chu Li-luan and some KMT lawmakers have been pushing for a quick passage of the bill to upgrade the airport, on the grounds that Taiwan will suffer a decline in competitiveness if the bill fails to pass soon.

The bill, which seeks to turn the airport into a legally incorporated business, includes provisions for the county's proposed development of a Taoyuan Aviation Park on a 6,150-hectare lot adjacent to the airport.

According to Chu, the park, to be positioned as a multinational business hub with a special airport zone and free trade zone, could attract over NT$1.2 trillion (US$39 billion) worth of investment, creating annual business revenue of at least NT$600 billion and more than 80,000 jobs.

Should the bill submitted by the Taoyuan county government clear the legislature in its present form, it would make the airport the responsibility of 16 government agencies and would make it exempt from 33 laws.

It would also give corporate groups special privileges, such as allowing them to import Chinese and foreign workers or allowing Chinese nationals to enter Taiwan on a landing visa -- creating controversy among lawmakers of the KMT and the DPP, which will bow out as the ruling party May 20.

(CNA)

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