Taichung’s Blue Line faces NT$100 billion funding gap as council group targets shopping festival budget

Taichung’s MRT Blue Line has a reported funding gap of NT$100 billion, yet the city’s proposed budget for next year sets aside no money to cover it. Instead, the plan includes NT$390 million for the Taichung Shopping Festival, prompting Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers to accuse the city government of leaving a financial mess for its successor.

City officials visited the DPP caucus in the Taichung City Council to seek support for the annual budget. Several lawmakers challenged the omission. Caucus leader Chou Yung-hung said the group would propose deleting the shopping festival allocation. Lawmaker Chen Shu-hua said the city government had known that the central government’s original NT$161.5 billion allocation for the Blue Line would be insufficient.

Chen also pointed to a NT$25.7 billion increase last year in the budget for the line’s electrical and mechanical systems. Lawmakers questioned why the city still planned to borrow money even though it expects to receive an additional NT$37.8 billion in general distribution funding next year under Taiwan’s new fiscal allocation law.

Councilor Huang Shou-ta criticized the project bureau for saying it would submit a revised plan to the Ministry of Transportation by the end of the year without giving a firm date. He noted that Mayor Lu Shiow-yen is due to leave office on Dec. 24 and said the shopping festival allocation, much of which covers prize money, should also be removed.

Deputy Mayor Huang Kuo-jung said the project bureau is reviewing the revised funding plan. He instructed it to submit the proposal to the ministry before the current city administration leaves office, with the aim of securing approval as soon as possible. Chou said the DPP caucus would continue with its proposal to cut the shopping festival budget.

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The DPP caucus will propose deleting the Taichung Shopping Festival budget.