TAIPEI - The
Taiwanese cabinet has approved a Coast Guard
Administration (CGA) plan to build 48 new-generation
patrol ships over the next four years to replace aging
craft.
According to the CGA plan, construction
of the new vessels, in various categories, will start
next year and end by 2006. The project will call for an
outlay of NT$2.58 billion (US$75.88 million).
This will be the CGA's largest patrol-ship
construction plan since its establishment. Under the
project, 20 speedboats and three 35-ton patrol boats
will be completed by next year, with 10 additional
35-ton patrol boats, a 50-ton patrol boat and three
100-ton patrol craft ready for service in 2004.
By 2005, three more 50-ton patrol boats and a
100-ton patrol vessel will join the CGA fleet. In 2006,
five additional 50-ton patrol vessels and two 100-ton
patrol boats will be ready for service.
Four
speedboats were already commissioned into offshore
patrol services last year and 16 additional speedboats
will go into service this year. By the end of next year,
the CGA will have 40 speedboats for offshore patrol
missions to thwart criminal activities in Taiwan's
territorial waters.
CGA officials said the
second-generation patrol-boat construction plan is part
of efforts to simplify the types of patrol craft in
service in order to cut maintenance costs and upgrade
operational efficiency. By 2006, the CGA fleet will be
composed of only four modern types of vessels -
speedboats, 35-tonners, 50-tonners and 100-tonners.
