| News from CNA in Taipei |
NAVY SHIPS WATER TO KINMEN
Jun 27, 2002 20:49 UTC+0800
Taipei, June 27 (CNA) A naval vessel carrying nearly 600 tons of water arrived at Kinmen Thursday to ease the water shortage on the frontline island.
Kinmen, like the rest of the country, has been suffering from a drought because of scant rainfall since the start of the year and the water level of its reservoir has continued to drop.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs therefore asked the Ministry of National Defense to transport water to the island to test water pipes laid in Liaolo Harbor in 1999 to facilitate such shipments.
The landing vessel, carrying 567 tons of water, departed from Tsoying Harbor the previous day and arrived at Liaolo Harbor to a welcome from Kinmen County Magistrate Lee Chu-feng and Legislator Wu Cheng-tien of the opposition New Party.
The Navy said that its ships have completed preparations for transporting more water to the offshore islands, and that each ship is capable of carrying 600 tons of water.
But Lee, while expressing his appreciation for the government's efforts, said that the shipment is not even one twentieth of Kinmen's daily water consumption, does not address the core of the problem and is not cost efficient.
Lee said that if the water crisis worsens, Kinmen will require at least 6,000 tons of water per day from Taiwan and estimated that one trip will cost NT$4.2 million (US$125,000). He questioned whether Kinmen can afford such costs and pointed out that a better solution would be to transport water from mainland China, which is much closer to Kinmen than Taiwan.
Legislator Wu echoed his views, saying that the government should consider transporting water from the mainland and adding that it would be conducive to the development of cross-strait relations, as well as being cost efficient.
Kinmen water plant officials estimated that the water reserves for Kinmen will be able to last until mid-August.
(By Lilian Wu)
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