CNA file photo

Taipei, Nov. 9 (CNA) The New Year's Day fireworks display at Taipei 101, one of the most popular and eye-catching events celebrating the start of the new year in Taiwan, will go ahead as planned and be about the same size as last year, Finance Minister Su Jain-rong (蘇建榮) said Friday.

Enough sponsors have been secured for the fireworks display, which costs more than NT$60 million (US$1.95 million) to take place as people usher in 2019, Su said as he answered reporters' questions about the New Year celebration.

Asked about the size of the fireworks display, the minister said it will be "roughly the same as last year."

The landmark Taipei 101 in the commercial hub of Xinyi District is managed by Taipei Financial Center Corp., in which government-run institutes hold about a 60 percent stake.

The company said last month that Taipei 101 will again showcase an LED lighting system at the annual New Year's Day fireworks display to ring in the New Year.

In 2018, the fireworks and light display, which typically start after the countdown to the New Year, lasted a record-breaking 6 minutes, involving 16,000 fireworks and 14,000 LED lights.

The 2018 show was augmented by a T-Pad wall composed of LED lights that covered the exterior of Taipei 101 from the 35th to 90th floors and featured images of pop diva A-mei (張惠妹) and Chen Chin-feng (陳金鋒), the first Taiwanese player to appear in a Major League Baseball (MLB) game in the United States.

(By Chiu Po-sheng and Elizabeth Hsu)
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