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Cho JungTai, Premier of Executive Yuan, and Nantou County Mayor Hsu ShuHua went to Nantou Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare to witness the launching ceremony of the Cancer Treatment Center on the morning of the 20th. After that, they inspected the Taiwan railway Jiji branch line for its improvement project in the afternoon.

Under the support of the central and local governments, the Cancer Treatment Center of Nantou Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare was officially launched on the morning of the 20th. Attendees of the launching ceremony include Cho JungTai, Premier of Executive Yuan, Chiu TaiYuan, Minister of Ministry of Health and Welfare, Hsu ShuHua, Nantou County Mayor, Legislator Yu Hao, Loh MeeiLing and Wang ChengHsu, and County Councilors Lin JuYang and Chien ChienHsiang.

“Nantou residents’ long-awaited Cancer Treatment Close to Home finally comes true! “said Nantou County Mayor Hsu. She, on behalf of the county citizens, expressed her gratitude to the team led by Hung HungChang, director of Nantou Hospital. In response to the needs of the citizens, they have put great efforts over ten years on preparation work, introduction of various advanced professional treatment and testing instruments and equipment and recruitment of medical teams. Today, the vision of cancer treatment close to home is finally realized.

Premier Cho said that in order to eliminate the health inequality between urban and rural areas, popularizing medical care in rural areas and improving local medical services and quality are two policies that the government attaches great importance to and keeps promoting. The Cancer Treatment Center of Nantou Hospital is able to reduce the distance from patients’ home to hospital, enabling patients to receive real-time high-quality medical services.

In the afternoon, County Mayor Hsu accompanied Premier Cho and Wu ShengYuan, Political Deputy Minister of Ministry of Transportation and Communication, to Jiji Township to inspect the slopes No. 2 and 3 of the Jiji Branch Line. The Taiwan Railway Jiji Branch Line Improvement Project is set to start in September. After completion, it will be able to not only improve the railway capacity and increase service frequency, but also expand regional economic and tourism benefits through the connection with sightseeing corridors in the middle of Taiwan.

During the inspection, Du Wei, Director General of Taiwan  Railways  Administration  (TRA), gave a briefing on the Taiwan Railway Jiji Branch Line Infrastructure Improvement Plan (臺鐵集集支線基礎設施改善計畫) and conducted an on-site inspection of Tunnel No. 2 and 3. The total budget of the Project is NT$2.363 billion with the construction completion set to July 2026. The construction content includes environment improvement at each station on the Jiji Line, track structure strengthening, tunnel reinforcement, and slope stabilization. However, due to the damage to the tunnel caused by typhoons and earthquakes, the Taiwan Railways submitted a tunnel restoration plan for K23+745~K23+845 to revise the Project. The budget is increased by NT$1.226 billion from the original NT$2.363 billion, and the completion is also extended to the end of 2027. The construction is scheduled to start in September 2024 and will last about 20 months. Legislators Yu Hao and Loh MeeiLing, County Councilor Shen Suzheng, and Wu DaCun, Chief of Jiji Township, were also present to show their concern.

According to County Mayor Hsu, Jiji branch line is responsible for the transportation and tourism lifeblood of Jiji, Shuili, and Checheng. However, it has been suspended due to the damage caused by typhoons and floods a few years ago. The remediation of slope took a lot of time. Unfortunately, events like typhoons, heavy rains and pandemic lead to repeat delays in project completion, overwhelming the citizens who has long term requirement on railway transportation with miserable. She expressed her gratitude to Premier Cho and heads of relative ministries for their inspection in Nantou. The county government will fully cooperate on the construction projects required for local tourism and economic development.