News

    The government has spent nearly NT$ 150 million on the engineering project to broaden Nantou Expressway 25, and held an event in Wandan Village in Mingjian Township on Jan. 18th as the expressway is now open to traffic. Township Mayor Chen, Wen-Te from Mingjian Township gave thanks to CM Lin, Ming-Chen for his help. Legislator Hsu, Shu-Hua fought for assistance from the central government to solve the local issues, which have lasted for a very long time. A 98-year-old grandmother Hsu-Chen, Wan-Lien went to make the sweet glutinous rice balls on site. She also enjoyed having some sweet glutinous rice balls with children from kindergarten to celebrate a successful expressway, which is now open to traffic. She said that “I have waited for nearly a decade! It’s so good to see that this expressway is now open to traffic. That’s wonderful!”

    The Nantou Expressway 25 has been through 4 township mayors and 2 county mayors ever since its first broadening plan until the whole plant is completed. Finally, the expressway was done, and as all the local people thought that was not easy to come by, so they had invited the gods or goddesses to look after them, and wished for peace once the expressway was open to traffic. As for the future development for local sites, they were full of hope as well. Many people joined the event including CM Lin, Ming-Chen, Legislator Hsu, Shu-Hua, County Council Member Yu, Hsiu-Ying and Tseng, Chen-Yen and some local individuals. The place was crowded.

    CM Lin gave his speech and said that the engineering project of the Nantou Expressway 25 was not done yet because of some issues like the land expropriation. The funding has been taken back by the central government. After Township Mayor Chen took office, he actively looked for ways to find help from the county government and legislators, and hoped that he could solve the problem. Although the county government does not have a good record on its financial statement, it decided to settle down the debts the Mingjian Township Office owes to the contractor first through advance payment. He did it all because of the local infrastructure. Legislator Hsu, Shu-Hua also fought for assistance from the central government. Everyone worked closely together and worked hard, and ultimately, they the Nantou Expressway 25 was done and is now open to traffic. The engineering project planned to broaden the Nantou Expressway 25 from the Qianqiu Rd. in Nantou City to the Donghu Village in Mingjian Township. The whole expressway is 2.5 km long. It was suggested that in future the expressway could be extended to someplace around the tilted transmission tower in Mingjian Township. It could solve the problem to fix the traffic in urban area on weekends once and for all, which creates prosperity in regional areas.

    Township Mayor Chen said that he never thought that such an expressway engineering project can take so long. It should take about 7 years to get it done from approval to become open to traffic. If he counted from the beginning of making the plan, it has taken more than 11 years! Before he took office at the township office, the township office already invested a lot of funding to cope with the engineering project of Nantou Expressway 25. However, the expressway was not open to traffic. There were many reasons for being unable to have the expressway open to traffic. Besides, the township office owes the contractor an amount of $NT 8 million for the engineering project. The public treasury was almost shot. Thanks to the county government’s cooperation with the legislators, they have solved the local issues, which have lasted for a very long time.