Lawmaker wants Kaohsiung air, sea ports included in bill

Huang issued the call at a seminar that she sponsored with the aim of exploring public opinion on ways to increase the international competitive edge of the two local ports.

The Legislative Yuan is set to screen a special bill Wednesday on the development and upgrade of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in northern Taiwan. However, as the bill deals only with Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in the north, Huang contended that Kaohsiung International Airport and the Kaohsiung Harbor should also be included to allow for their development as an aviation park and a free trade port zone, respectively. To that end, Huang said, she will propose amendments to every clause in the bill when it comes up for screening by the Legislature Wednesday. The government is hoping that the bill will be passed to develop the area adjacent to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport as an aviation park. If the bill is passed with the inclusion of the two ports, the Kaohsiung city government will have to make an all out effort to bring the ports up to a level with those in the north, she urged. Wang Ming-sheng, a professor at National Sun Yat-sen University in Kaohsiung City, called on the city government to seize the development opportunities that would arise with the planned opening of direct shipping services between Taiwan and China.

Taiwan and China representatives inked four cooperation accords Nov. 4 in Taipei, one of which was to establish direct shipping links across the Taiwan Strait. To that end, China will open 28 of its ports for business with Taiwan.

Wang said that the Kaohsiung city government has failed in its efforts to make its sea port into a free trade zone and he suggested that transparent participation by the public in the development of the city and its two ports should be allowed.

Civil Aeronautics Administration Director-General Lee Lung-wen expressed the view that there is ample room for Kaohsiung International Airport to further develop once its cargo and passenger transportation volumes increase.

The number of commercial passenger flights at the Taoyuan airport is six times that at the Kaohsiung airport, while the number of cargo flights is 25 times that at the Kaohsiung airport, Lee noted.

Vice Minister of Transportation and Communications Oliver F. L. Yu contended that the competitiveness of the increasingly marginalized Kaohsiung Port can be boosted by relaxing the special law.

Thanks to its strategic location and large hinterland in the neighboring Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties, the Kaohsiung Port stands a good chance of being transformed into a flourishing commercial business district, Yu said.

He said the Taoyuan airport will first undergo development in line with the law, as long as the international airport development special bill clears the Legislative Yuan, and the law can then be applied to the Kaohsiung airport if its passenger transportation volume is large enough.

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