Li Sichuan Leverages 40 Years Experience to Propose Three New Taipei Waste Plans

On the campaign stage for the New Taipei City mayoral election, Kuomintang candidate Lee Ssu-chuan delivered a speech in front of the New Taipei City Government on the 20th, reiterating his forty years of practical engineering experience. He pledged that if elected, he would prioritize resolving the city's increasingly severe problem of construction waste disposal. In his speech, Lee pointed out that he has participated in numerous large-scale civil and public construction projects, personally experiencing the generation, sorting, and transportation processes of construction waste, and deeply understanding the technical and management challenges behind them. These remarks sparked heated discussions among local media and on social media, with many voters expressing anticipation over whether he can translate his engineering background into concrete policies.

As one of Taiwan's most densely populated cities, New Taipei City has long generated high volumes of construction waste. According to city government statistics, approximately 150,000 tons of construction waste were generated citywide in 2023, with about 70 percent consisting of recyclable materials such as concrete, bricks and tiles, and metals. Although the city government has established multiple temporary storage yards and transfer centers, long-term accumulation has become a potential risk to the environment and public health due to land scarcity and strict environmental protection regulations. More severely, transportation routes in certain areas are limited by road width and traffic controls, causing frequent congestion of clearance vehicles and further driving up transportation costs and carbon emissions.

To address these issues, Lee Ssu-chuan proposed three specific plans. First, he plans to establish an "Engineering Waste Management Committee" within the city government, bringing together engineers, environmental experts, and local community representatives to formulate unified classification and recycling standards to enhance waste reuse rates. Second, he will promote a "Disposal Route Optimization Plan," cooperating with transportation departments to adjust road usage time periods and utilizing intelligent logistics systems to predict peak periods, thereby reducing traffic congestion. Finally, he advocates partnering with private enterprises to establish "waste remanufacturing plants" to convert recyclable materials into building materials or energy, thereby reducing the burden on storage yards and creating job opportunities.

These proposals not only have a direct impact on New Taipei City's environmental governance, but also highlight the Kuomintang's practical propositions in local governance on a broader political level. Compared to the Democratic Progressive Party's concept of a "green city," Lee Ssu-chuan's plan leans more toward a balance between technical and economic benefits, aiming to rapidly improve the current situation in the short term and lay the foundation for long-term sustainable development. Voter reactions to this have been mixed; some supporters believe his engineering background can bring practical and feasible solutions, while other voices worry that this approach might overlook deeper issues of environmental protection and social equity.

Looking at Lee Ssu-chuan's speeches and proposals as a whole, it indicates that the New Taipei City mayoral election has entered the stage of concrete policy discussion, with waste management becoming one of the key issues. If Lee can swiftly implement the aforementioned plans after the election, he is expected to alleviate the city's disposal bottlenecks in the short term while finding a balance between environmental protection and economic development. This move may also become an important opportunity for the Kuomintang to regain support in local elections.