Huge, 50km long, twin road tunnels from Yunlin county on the west coast of Taiwan to the offshore islands of Penghu and Kinmen have been proposed as part of an ambitious US$101bn port and airport complex.

Top executives from a raft of companies, including Samsung and Hyundai of South Korea and Japan’s Nippon Steel, were due to meet in Taipei to discuss the plans as T&TI went to press.

Nine separate infrastructure projects for the international transhipment centre have been put forward by a group of democratic party legislators.

The group has already discussed the plans with premier Chang Chun-hsiung, Economic Planning and Development chairman Chen Po-chih and Transportation and Communications Minister Yeh Chu-lan.