Taipei, July 3 (CNA) Sixty-one percent of Taiwanese approve of the government-proposed "forward-looking infrastructure development plan," while 33.4 percent disapprove, according to a survey published on Monday by Taiwan Style Foundation, a local think tank.
According to the poll, support was greatest for the water environment construction element of the infrastructure plan at 78.3 percent, followed by green energy construction at 67.5 percent, urban-rural construction 66.2 percent, digital infrastructure 61.0 percent and light rail construction 52.0 percent.
Asked about pension reform, 53.6 percent of respondents expressed satisfaction with the new pension reform legislation, which takes effect on July 1, 2018, while 40.0 percent voiced the opposite opinion.
Meanwhile, 68 percent of respondents said they accept the clause in the legislation that phases out the preferential, government- subsidized 18 percent interest rate on retirement savings accounts for retired civil servants in two years, with 45.2 percent strongly accepting and 26.9 percent expressing the opposite opinion.
At the same time, 70.4 percent of respondents said they accept a stipulated minimum monthly pension payment of NT$32,160 for retired civil servants, while 22.6 percent expressed the opposite.
Asked about the clause that changes the basis on which monthly pensions for civil servants will be calculated from their last month of employment to average monthly salary over the last 15 years of employment, 64.2 percent accepted the proposal, while 24.9 percent did not.
As for the stipulation that the income replacement rate will be lowered from 75 percent to 60 percent over 10 years for those with 35 years of service, 61.7 percent accepted, while 25.7 percent had the opposite opinion.
Asked about the increase in the retirement age of public servants by one year every year until it reaches 65 in 2026, 56.2 percent accepted the proposal, while 38.9 percent did not.
The survey was conducted from June 25-26 among 1,072 adults in Taiwan. It had a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of plus or minus 2.99 percentage points.
