Ou Chin-der

Ou Chin-der
歐晉德
Minister of Public Construction Commission of the Republic of China
In office
8 June 1996 – 25 December 1999
Preceded byArthur Y. Chen
Succeeded byLee Chien-chung (acting)
Tsay Jaw-yang
Personal details
NationalityRepublic of China
Alma materNational Cheng Kung University
Case Western Reserve University

Ou Chin-der (Chinese: 歐晉德; pinyin: Ōu Jìndé; born November 19, 1944) is a Taiwanese civil engineer. Ou was an immigrant who moved from the mainland China to the Taitung County of eastern Taiwan with his parents. He graduated and received his master's degree of civil engineering from National Cheng Kung University, and took a doctoral degree in Soil Mechanics at Case Western Reserve University.

Ou became an official of the government of Republic of China, Taiwan in the late 1980s. He served as the director of Taiwan's National Expressway Engineering Bureau from 1990 to 1995, and the chairman of Public Construction Commission of Executive Yuan, the central government of Taiwan, from 1996 to 1998. Ou took part in several key public projects, such as the Sun Yat-sen Freeway, the No. 2 Northern Freeway and the Taipei-Yilan Freeway.

Later Ou transited to act as the political deputy mayor of Taipei City between 1998 and 2004. He gained public recognition and wide popularity for his effort during the 1999 Chichi earthquake and SARS outbreak, and has since become the leading expert of crisis management in Taiwan.

Ou left his post as the deputy mayor of Taipei in August 2004 and became the chairman of Taipei City Government owned Taipei Smart Card Corporation, a company which operates the EasyCard contactless smartcard system for use on the Taipei Metro. During his term, Ou successfully pushed the sales of EasyCard over 6 million in just a few years.[1]

Due to his civil engineering background and political prestige, Ou became chief executive officer of Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation (THSRC),[2][3] a private company which holds and manages the Taiwan High Speed Rail, the high-speed rail system of Taiwan, and its related services, on October 1, 2006, just a few months before operation began on January 5, 2007.

Although Ou left his public post to work in the private sector in 2004, he still has been widely anticipated as a potential candidate in several key elections and official posts, including the 2006 Taipei mayoral elections[4][5][6][7] and the ROC presidential election of 2008,[8][9][10] though Ou has expressed interest in the continued development of Taiwan High Speed Rail instead of returning to politics.[11][12][13]

Ou became the chairman of the board of THSRC on September 22, 2009, while still holding the position of chief executive officer, following the takeover of the company's board by the Taiwanese government.[14][15][16] Taiwan High Speed Rail was expected to achieve break-even cash flows for the first time in 2011.[17][18][19]

Ou stepped down from the chairmanship of the THSRC in March 2014.[20][21]

  1. ^ "悠遊卡破600萬張 歐晉德樂爆了". Liberty Times. 2005-10-24. Retrieved 2005-10-24.
  2. ^ "Rev. Robert A. Sirico, President of the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, is to visit Taiwan". Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ROC. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
  3. ^ "歐晉德做自己 赴高鐵當顧問". Archived from the original on 2011-10-01. Retrieved 2006-06-15.
  4. ^ "下屆市長 馬看好歐晉德". Retrieved 2004-12-26.
  5. ^ "眾人爭搶北市長寶座 藍營內部難擺平". Retrieved 2006-02-06.
  6. ^ "歐晉德無意參選臺北市長 馬英九：會試著勸進". Archived from the original on March 1, 2006. Retrieved 2006-01-12.
  7. ^ "勸進聲不絕 歐晉德一度說再思考". Retrieved 2006-02-09.
  8. ^ "今周刊／歐晉德 馬英九的最佳救援投手？". Retrieved 2009-08-29.
  9. ^ "八八檢討／入閣有影？ 歐晉德現身高雄重建會議". Retrieved 2009-08-23.
  10. ^ "內閣改組／比小幅多一點！歐晉德、詹啟賢副閣揆大熱門？". Retrieved 2009-09-02.
  11. ^ "歐晉德表態 不參選北市長". Retrieved 2006-01-12.
  12. ^ "離開馬英九之後 歐晉德 重拾人生最愛". Retrieved 2006-10-25.
  13. ^ "歐晉德：高鐵將成台灣驕傲". Retrieved 2008-02-04.
  14. ^ "高鐵慘虧 傳歐晉德將換下殷琪". Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  15. ^ "高鐵結束殷琪時代！". Archived from the original on 2009-10-09. Retrieved 2009-10-05.
  16. ^ "殷琪求去 歐晉德接掌高鐵". Archived from the original on 2009-09-24. Retrieved 2009-09-21.
  17. ^ "高鐵董事長歐晉德表示今年將可損益兩平". Retrieved 2011-03-10.
  18. ^ "高鐵營運步步高，董事長歐晉德表示今年將可損益兩平，甚至有機會賺錢，現已開始規劃購買新車事宜". Retrieved 2011-03-10.
  19. ^ "開張5年 高鐵賺錢了". Retrieved 2011-03-28.
  20. ^ "Ou Chin-der resigns as chairman of the THSR". The China Post. 2014-03-06. Retrieved 2014-03-10.
  21. ^ Wang Shu-fen; Elizabeth Hsu; Lee Hsin-Yin (2014-03-06). "Taiwan High Speed Rail chairman quits amid controversy". Focus Taiwan. CNA. Retrieved 2014-03-10.