TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — New Taipei officials said plans for an MRT line connecting Taipei’s Gongguan Station at National Taiwan University with Zhonghe District will be released within a year.

Central and local government officials, engineering firms, and citizens attended a community meeting in New Taipei’s Yonghe District on Tuesday to discuss the project, per UDN. At the meeting, the New Taipei MRT Bureau said planning details would be submitted to the Cabinet and released publicly within one year.

The New Taipei City MRT Bureau said four stops are planned for the 3.1-kilometer Xiulang Bridge to Gongguan MRT line, including existing stations on the MRT green and yellow lines. It said construction firms will complete bidding for the project by the end of this month, after which a planning report will be submitted to local authorities.

The approximate location of stations on the planned line.

A city government report published in 2019 showed that Zhonghe and Yonghe are underserved by the MRT network, and the main roads through the suburbs are heavily congested. At the community meeting, New Taipei City Legislator Lin Te-fu (林德福) said he believes only an MRT line can solve these problems.

New Taipei City Legislator Chang Chih-lun (張智倫) said water pipes inside Yonghe’s floodwalls will be moved to the riverside as part of the project. He said the city government is working with the water department.

Work is also underway on an extensive MRT project in greater Taipei that will connect Taipei’s Dadaocheng to Keelung. Construction on an MRT extension connecting Taipei’s Neihu to New Taipei’s Sanchong also began last month.