President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday said that the controversial Meinung Dam (美濃水庫) would not be built as long as he is in office.
Chen said that shelving plans for the dam in the southern Kaohsiung County township of Meinung would fulfill one of his campaign promises.
"As long as there are alternative ways to supply water to the greater Kaohsiung area, it is not necessary to build the Meinung Dam," Chen said.
"I am here to confirm that the promise that I made during the campaign was good when I made it and is good now. The dam will not be built during my term in office," Chen said.
Government spokeswoman Chung Chin (
The former KMT government had originally planned to build a major reservoir near Meinung village, a cultural center for the island's Hakka ethnic group, to increase the water supply to industries.
Local residents and the DPP have been bitterly opposed to the project.
Last summer, with a majority of KMT legislators, the Legislative Yuan passed a NT$250 million budget for construction of the dam, which observers saw as the end of the opposition to the dam. But after Chen was elected president in March of last year, the movement against the dam was given a new lease on life.
Chung Yung-feng (
Moreover, after the presidential election, DPP legislators demanded that the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA,
Meinung residents have long been against the construction of the Meinung Dam.
According to the government, surveyors have been mapping out the area for the last 10 years and the protests against the project have persisted ever since.
In October 1992, a group of local scholars met to discuss the main reasons the dam should not be built. They concluded that the benefits of the dam would be to industry and not to the residents who would have to live in its shadow. They also said that Japanese engineers had found serious faults with the surrounding shale and sandstone formations.
Moreover, the group said that the worries of the local residents were being ignored.
Chang Cheng-yang (
"What we say now is the same message we've been saying for years. It has been a long protest. I am pleased to hear that the president has made good on his campaign promise, but my only hope is that there will never be a dam built in Meinung," he said.
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer began talks with high-ranking Chinese officials in Switzerland yesterday aiming to de-escalate a dispute that threatens to cut off trade between the world’s two biggest economies and damage the global economy. The US delegation has begun meetings in Geneva with a Chinese delegation led by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰), Xinhua News Agency said. Diplomats from both sides also confirmed that the talks have begun, but spoke anonymously and the exact location of the talks was not made public. Prospects for a major breakthrough appear dim, but there is
The number of births in Taiwan fell to an all-time monthly low last month, while the population declined for the 16th consecutive month, Ministry of the Interior data released on Friday showed. The number of newborns totaled 8,684, which is 704 births fewer than in March and the lowest monthly figure on record, the ministry said. That is equivalent to roughly one baby born every five minutes and an annual crude birthrate of 4.52 per 1,000 people, the ministry added. Meanwhile, 17,205 deaths were recorded, resulting in a natural population decrease of 8,521, the data showed. More people are also leaving Taiwan, with net
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
RSS