TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The chairman of Taiwan's largest state-owned shipbuilding company CSBC Corp., Cheng Wen-long (鄭文隆), confirmed on Monday (Nov. 25) that an industrial park for the country's indigenous submarines will be located in Keelung, northern Taiwan.
The port city and company have identified an area of 6.4 acres to develop self-built submarines. Furthermore, the city government is looking for suitable land to expand the park in the future, according to media reports.
The industrial park is expected to become a naval engineering cluster that concentrates advanced techniques and talent, with five factories slated to break ground in March 2020. The goal will be to build at least eight indigenous submarines.
In May, a submarine shipyard began construction in the country's southern port city of Kaohsiung.
Taiwan operates four aged submarines but under pressure from China has been prevented from procuring more from abroad. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said earlier this year the first indigenous submarine is expected to be ready for tests in 2024 and to be completed in 2025.
