WATER SHORTAGES MAY FORCE HIGH-TECH FIRMS OUT OF TAIWAN.

HSINCHU, Taiwan, March 1 Asia Pulse - The ongoing water shortage problem may force companies in the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park - the core of Taiwan's high-technology industry - off the island, a group of corporate executives warned Thursday.

The high-tech CEOs made the warning at a colloquium with Minister of Economic Affairs Christine Tsung, National Science Council (NSC) Chairman Wei Che-ho, Hsinchu County Magistrate Cheng Yung-chin, and other officials as well as legislators elected from the Hsinchu constituency.

A drought in northern Taiwan in recent months has hit microchips companies in the Hsinchu park, whose daily water demand reaches 130,000 tons. The unusual scarcity of rainfall this month has resulted in a daily water shortfall of 8,000 tons in the region.

Although relevant government agencies have tried to increase the water supply to the island's high-tech bastion through a pipeline linked to the Feitsui Reservoir in Taipei, some 100 kilometers to the north, the water shortage has continued to trouble corporate executives inside the park.

In an effort to allay their worries, Minister Tsung said at Thursday's seminar that a fallow project covering 18,000 hectares of farmland in Hsinchu and neighboring Taoyuan County will begin Friday and will last until the end of May to address the park's water problem.

Tsung said the fallow program was worked out after consultations among the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), the Council of Agriculture (COA), the NSC and other relevant government agencies.

"The fallow program will save an average of 600,000 to 650,000 tons of water daily used to irrigate rice paddies in the Hsinchu-Taoyuan areas," Tsung said. "The saved water will be able to satisfy the demands of information technology (IT) companies and ordinary households in the drought-hit region until May when Taiwan will enter its annual monsoon or 'plum rain' season."