The Taiwanese government recently announced that it has approved the 2.0 special act drafted by NDC (National Development Council) for Forward-looking Infrastructure, Commercial Times reported on September 7. The government has allocated NT$510 billion (US$176.5 billion; US$1 = NT$28.9) for the 2.0 version, NT$46.4 billion (US$1.6 billion) of which will be for digital infrastructure construction and NT$49 billion (US$1.7 billion) for 5G digital transformation. The 2.0 version will begin in 2021 with three to four phases.
Overall, Taiwan’s Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program will last for 8 years and spend NT$840 billion (US$29 billion) in total. The 1.0 version approved in 2017 and allocated for NT$330 billion (US$11.4 billion) between 2017-2020 contains eight major sectors: safe and convenient rail services, water resource management, green energy construction, digital infrastructure, urban-rural infrastructure construction, food safety, measures to increase birth rate, and talent cultivation. It is noteworthy the amount allocated for digital infrastructure has doubled from NT$44 billion (US$1.5 billion) to NT$95.4 billion (US$3.3 billion).