Taipei, Aug. 10 (CNA) The nation's highest watchdog on Wednesday censured the Ministry of Transportation and Communications for opulently expanding one of the two airports in eastern Taiwan that has very little passenger volume.
The Control Yuan said the government had been "too optimistic" in the assessment of the potential arrivals to Hualien Airport, investing NT$2.625 billion (US$90.75 million) on an expansion project for the airport when its facility use rate is only "7 percent."
Yang Mei-lin, one of the Control Yuan members, said in a news conference that Hualien Airport fell short of its revenue target by NT$200 million annually between 2006 and 2010, while Taitung Airport had NT$100 million less revenues than expected every year between 2002 and 2010.
"While investigating the operations of the two airports, it was most sad for me to find that the business revenue of the two airports every year couldn't even meet the needs of personnel costs," Yang said.
The business revenue of Hualien Airport in 2010 was NT$18.82 million, but the personnel cost rang in as much as NT$65.22 million.
The business revenue of Taitung Airport was NT$25.32 million, while the personnel cost was NT$45.44 million.
Yang said when the expansion work for Hualien airport began in 2001, the objective environment had already changed.
Cheng Jen-hung, Yang's colleague, said that an improvement project for the eastern railway and a highway linking Taipei and Yilan were already underway, but the ministry failed to consider that those projects could sap traffic for the airports.
"The ministry went ahead with the expansion, but after the inauguration of the expanded airport, the number of tourist arrivals declined annually," Cheng said.
Cheng said the key to whether Hualien airport can gain a new lease on life will depend on charter planes.
He noted that Hualien County officials told him that they had visited China to promote tourism. But when the government announced recently that direct cross-strait flights would increase from 370 flights to 558 flights per week, most of the increased flights went to bigger airports in western Taiwan.
"The Ministry of Transportation and Communications has the responsibility to consider the local needs and incorporate them into an overall assessment to make the use of airports in eastern Taiwan more efficient," Cheng said.
Source: http://focustaiwan.tw
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