AFP, Taipei :
Taiwan’s ambitions to become a regional air hub finally look set to take off with approval for a mega “aerotropolis” to cash in on improving ties with China and the rise of budget airlines in the region.
The ambitious plan to transform the main Taoyuan International Airport into a regional aviation centre is tipped to attract more than $16 billion in investment for the island’s biggest infrastructure project in more than three decades.
Covering nearly 7,000 hectares (17,000 acres), the “aerotropolis” will include a free trade zone, a third terminal at the airport and an industrial park to house goods-distribution and aviation-related industries.
First mooted in the booming 1990s by the then Kuomintang government, the project stalled after elections in 2000 when the Democratic Progressive Party ended the KMT’s 51-year grip on power.
With the KMT now back in power and the economy faltering, President Ma Ying-jeou revived the project during his 2008 re-election campaign.
Since then, government agencies have been working out the details of the mammoth undertaking which could generate more than 200,000 jobs.
The project is now set to take off from the drawing board after the interior ministry recently gave the nod to its urban development plans.
“The approval of the urban development plans marks a major step forward in the development of the Taoyuan aerotropolis project,” Wu Chih-yang, the head of the Taoyuan county government told a recent news conference in Taipei.
“From now on, the project will get off from the paperwork stage,” he said.
Wu estimated that within the next 15 years the government and private sector could pour up to Tw$500 billion ($16.5 billion) into the project, the island’s biggest national infrastructure plan since the late 1970s.
Up to 260,000 jobs would be created by the project which he said “if properly carried out, could help the economy get up and running again”.
Critics and the opposition say the project is intended to help sway voters for mayoral elections in November and the faltering economy has been the biggest source of mounting complaints against Ma’s administration.
Once one of Asia’s most dynamic economies, Taiwan grew just 1.48 percent in 2011, 2.11 percent in 2012 and is predicted to rise 2.82 percent this year.
Despite the economic gloom, Taiwan has enjoyed a dramatic rise in tourist arrivals, thanks largely to improving ties with former bitter rival China over the past few years.
