TAIPEI: Taiwan government has approved a four-year NT$120 billion ($3.6 billion) plan to rebuild areas devastated by the island's deadliest typhoon in half a century.
The budget, fully funded by debt, allocates NT$41.4 billion this year to rebuild homes, bridges and roads damaged by Typhoon Morakot, the government said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
Morakot shattered the southern part of Taiwan between August 7 and August 9. It killed more than 600 people and triggered mudslides that engulfed entire villages.
Almost NT$27 billion of funds will be allocated to the Council of Agriculture to extend credit to farmers and compensate them for farming losses, according to the statement.
Over NT$49 billion is allocated for spending next year, and NT$22.7 billion in 2011, the government said. NT$21.06 billion will be spent to repair roads, railways and tourism infrastructure, it said.
The budget estimate was based on the reconstruction work following a 7.6-magnitude earthquake that struck in 1999, the government said.
Morakot brought a record three meters of rain, submerging houses and streets and destroying dozens of bridges and hundreds of roads. It caused at least NT$16 billion in losses to agriculture and another NT$10.5 billion in damage to tourism facilities and lost tourism revenue, according to government figures.
Taiwan's parliament came out of recess last week to approve a NT$120 billion budget for reconstruction in the wake of the disaster.
The figure was raised from the government's initial proposal of NT$100 billion after the major opposition Democratic Progressive Party demanded a special budget of NT$200 billion.