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.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
RSS