Infrastructure security to be bolstered – Taipei Times

HOUSING:
The Ministry of the Interior aims to start breaking ground on social housing projects in the north in two years, and reach Lai’s goal of 1 million units in eight years

• By Jonathan Chin / Staff writer, with CNA

Taiwan is to bolster critical infrastructure security with a force of 1,811 police officers before the end of the year, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said during a question-and-answer session at the legislature yesterday.

The officers — to be drawn from the National Police Agency’s Second Special Police Corps — would guard the nation’s key oil, water, electricity and telecom facilities against sabotage, Liu told the Legislative Yuan’s Internal Administration Committee.

The Second Police Corps would receive additional personnel, equipment and training resources for the task, she said, adding that joint response drills against specific threats would be employed to ensure police effectiveness.

The Ministry of the Interior is to continue building resilience in local communities and expanding a disaster relief volunteer certification program to mitigate the effects of natural disasters, she said.

The ministry is enhancing its collaboration with groups, schools and other government departments to grow the 26,000-member disaster relief volunteer force to 50,000 by the end of the year, she said.

Additionally, from January to last month, the police closed 12,028 fraud investigations, busting 691 scam organizations and arresting 6,358 suspects, Liu said.

Police cut 626 phone lines being used for fraud, stopped 5,170 fraudulent schemes and prevented the loss of NT$305 million (US$9.44 million) to scams, she said.

The ministry drafted proposed laws on police use of forensic technology and communication security, and preventing fraud and money laundering, which the Executive Yuan has submitted to lawmakers for review, she said.

The ministry is to implement President William Lai’s (賴清德) policy to increase social housing to 1 million units, Liu added.

The initiative would add 250,000 new homes, 250,000 units under a subleasing and management service system and 500,000 subsidized units, she said.

The ministry aims to break ground on all of the initiative’s construction projects in northern Taiwan in two years and reach its 1 million social housing units goal in eight years, she said.

The government approved 1,152 urban renewal projects and 3,599 initiatives to repair or replace condemned buildings from January to last month, Liu said.

That marked a sevenfold increase in approved projects from the first five months of 2017, before the current urban renewal rules were implemented, she said.

The rise underscores the ministry’s need to revamp the process for approving and subsidizing such projects toward improving the speed of approvals and offering more incentives, she said.