British Investments In Taichung Infrastructure On The Rise

The Taichung City Government has been actively promoting multiple major construction projects, including a metro system, the Shuinan Economic and Trade Park, and airport redevelopment plans, to attract international businesses.

Looking at Taichung’s plans for the future, on June 17th, the vice-representative of the British Office in Taipei, Mr. Andrew Pittam and Mr. Richard Freer, the president in charge of the Asian market for Bechtel Corporation, paid an official visit to the city government.

Vice-Mayor Ling-Hu welcomed the guests on behalf of the administration and discussed Taichung’s large-scale urban plans, the construction of the MRT, and key economic development plans.

He also hoped to seek collaborative opportunities on municipal arrangements as well as future funding.

In addition, the vice-mayor indicated that the city government has been working closely with the British Office Taipei to achieve these aims.

The de-facto British ambassador to Taiwan, Catherine Nettleton, attended the Taichung World Flora Exhibition in 2018, and led a delegate team on behalf of Mayor Lu to investigate policies relating to reducing carbon emissions and improving air quality to the UK in 2019.

During the vice-mayor’s first term he was himself sent to receive training for a year in the UK and was very impressed British history, culture, and development, thus inspiring his desire to promote communication and cooperation between the UK and Taiwan.

Vice-representative Pittam indicated that he had visited Taichung several times over his past three years in Taiwan, and that many British companies have invested in Taiwanese companies.

This time round, Mr. Pittam was accompanied by Mr. Richard Freer of the Bechtel Corporation to learn about the major urban construction efforts underway in Taichung.

Mr. Freer stated that the Bechtel Conglomerate closed their Shanghai headquarters in 2014, and chose to set up an office in Taiwan in the hope that it will become their center of operations for the Asia-Pacific region.

Prior to his visit Mr. Freer has been involved in over 160 projects in national energy, traffic engineering, and industrial development.

Furthermore, Pacific Engineers & Constructors, a subsidiary of Bechtel, with direct experience in Taiwan-related-contracts including at the Kuosheng Nuclear Power Plant, Taipei Main Station, and in the Taipei MRT system, recognised all the infrastructure development projects in Taichung, and is reported to be looking forward to participating in construction of the city’s metro system.

The city government for their part declared the UK an important trading partner for Taiwan.

The UK has in recent years become one of the largest investors in Taiwan, and with this most recent exchange, the city government of Taichung looks forward to attracting more British firms to invest in multiple large-scale construction projects in the city in the future.