TAIPEI: The Executive Yuan approved yesterday a NT$3.99 trillion ($122.8 billion) budget for the i-Taiwan 12 projects, which involve carrying out major infrastructure construction to boost economic growth and create jobs.

According to officials from the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD), which submitted blueprints for the projects yesterday, NT$2.79 trillion of the budget will be allocated by the government in an eight-year period, with the remaining NT$1.2 trillion to come from private investments.

Wu Den-yih, head of the Executive Yuan, demanded that government agencies earmark relevant budgets in time so as to launch the projects and complete the i-Taiwan program on schedule.

The program is a major plank of Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou's election campaign last year and is aimed at revitalizing Taiwan's economy and creating job opportunities by upgrading local infrastructure to international standards.

The 12 projects cover 284 sub-projects, including building a convenient island-wide transportation network, regenerating the port city of Kaohsiung, building a new high-tech industrial cluster in central Taiwan, building a Taoyuan international aviation park, developing Intelligent Taiwan, setting up industrial innovation corridors, renewing urban and industrial parks, modernizing farming villages, regenerating Taiwan's coastal areas, reforestation, flood prevention and water management, and sewer construction.

With some projects to kick off this year, an average of 247,000 jobs could be created every year through 2016, and Taiwan's GDP growth could increase by 2.95 percent per year, the CEPD estimated.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 11/27/2009 page2)