DPP lawmakers say KMT’s Simon Chang shot down plans to bring railway underground in Taoyuan

DPP lawmakers say KMT’s Simon Chang shot down plans to bring railway underground in Taoyuan

2022-11-17

Two DPP lawmakers on Thursday held a press conference, saying that Simon Chang, the KMT’s mayoral candidate for Taoyuan, had not always supported plans to bring the railway tracks underground in the city. The lawmakers say that while Chang was in the Executive Yuan, he had issued a document that greatly limited financial aid from the central government for such a project, effectively shooting down the proposal. The lawmakers say that goes against Chang’s current claims that he had worked toward such an infrastructure overhaul.

Two DPP lawmakers are accusing the KMT mayoral candidate for Taoyuan, Simon Chang, of being a liar. Chang in recent days has stated that when he was vice premier, he supported proposals to bring the railway tracks in Taoyuan underground. The lawmakers say that according to documents from the time, Chang is not telling the truth.

The document states that the central government would offer a subsidy of NT$19.975 billion for plans to elevate the railway tracks. It adds that, should the plan change to bring the tracks underground instead, the subsidy amount would remain the same, despite the higher costs. Lo and Huang say that, with an estimated cost of around NT$100 billion to bring the tracks underground, Taoyuan would have had to foot a bill of more than NT$80 billion for the project.

Lo Chih-cheng
DPP lawmaker
There isn’t a single local government that would be able to pay NT$80 billion on its own. So to put things simply, it was an indirect way to shoot the project down. Or perhaps not so indirect, telling the local government that the Executive Yuan would not support such a plan. Now that Simon Chang is running in the election, he’s tried to give a spin to this document. But we’ve realized that his explanations don’t add up.

Huang Shih-chieh
DPP lawmaker
Had Mr. Simon Chang not had been in the Executive Yuan to put this NT$80 billion financial obstacle to block the project to bring the tracks underground, then we wouldn’t have needed such a long time to discuss everything again with the transport ministry and National Development Council.

The lawmakers also showed footage of an interpellation session in 2016, where Chang was asked to comment on Taoyuan’s industrial sector. Then, he had replied that he didn’t know much about the local industry. The lawmakers questioned whether Chang was fit to be mayor of the special municipality.

Simon Chang
Taoyuan mayoral candidate
The point of the document is to explain what the original subsidy was. Then the transport ministry could give a more detailed plan for how the funds would be distributed.

Huang Shih-chieh
DPP lawmaker
If he really was such a big supporter of bringing the railway underground, why did he write that on the financial plan for the project? He didn’t say the matter should be reviewed. He drew a conclusion, saying that the central government would not cover any additional expenses.

Huang and Lo criticized the mayoral candidate, saying that there was a full record of his positions while in government.

轟張善政偽善! 綠:為桃園鐵路地下化設財務路障

2022-11-17

桃園選戰，鐵路地下化議題延燒，綠營拿出一份張善政擔任行政院副院長時的公文，裡頭寫到中央補助桃園鐵路高架化199.75億，如果改為鐵路地下化，衍生的經費不宜再由中央補助。民進黨立委痛斥張善政，要地方政府自籌衍生的800多億，根本是為桃園鐵路地下化設下財務路障。

民進黨立委痛批張善政偽善，因為他自稱當行政院副院長時，支持鐵路地下化想法，但當時的公文曝光。

公文寫明中央是補助桃園鐵路高架化199.75億，但後續如果要改為地下化，衍生的經費不宜再由中央補助。立委指出，當時估計地下化約1000多億元經費，表示行政院要桃園自籌剩餘的800多億。

[[立委(民) 羅致政]]
“800多億的經費，沒有一個地方政府有辦法自籌這麼多經費，所以簡單講，這是一個軟釘子，甚至是一個硬釘子，告訴地方政府，我不會支持。如今張善政因為選舉，要為這個公文重新賦予解釋，但是我們發現，解釋不通的。”

[[立委(民) 黃世杰]]
“如果不是當年張善政先生任內，搬了一個800億的財務分擔路障，擋在鐵路地下化計畫前面，也不會後面需要這麼長的時間，跟交通部、國發會一再進行溝通。”

立委抨擊張善政，還翻出他2016年總質詢的畫面，當時他被問到桃園產業，還說自己對桃園產業了解不多，結果一轉身就來選市長。

[[桃園市長候選人(國) 張善政]]
“這個公文的重點，是在說原來匡列的經費是怎麼樣，現在請交通部再詳細規劃一下新的財務分配。

[[立委(民) 黃世杰]]
“如果他當時真的這麼支持鐵路地下化的方案，他怎麼會在財務計畫上面，他也不是說請你重新檢討，他直接下結論說，不宜由中央再補助。”

黃世杰打臉張善政，只能說凡走過必留下痕跡。

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