Taipei, July 17 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian presided Thursday over a ceremony to mark the beginning of track-laying for the country's first high speed railway in Kangshan, Kaohsiung County.
Chen said the 345-km rail, which will run from Taipei to Kaohsiung, is the first public project to be constructed under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model under which it will be built and operated for 35 years by a private company and then given over to the government.
The BOT system allows the government to tap private sector funds and skills for public construction projects, Chen said.
Noting that nearly 80 percent of the route-preparing work has been finished, including 40 tunnels and 200 km of elevated railway, the president said he is confident the railway will begin operation by October 2005.
Once finished, Chen said, the high speed railway will make everywhere in western Taiwan accessible within one day and will turn the country into what he described as "a city-state."