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Cabinet in damage-control mode

Environmental activists protest in front of the Executive Yuan in Taipei yesterday, accusing Premier Liu Chao-shiuan of seeking to commence construction of a section of the Suhua Freeway and thus breaking President Ma Ying-jeou’s election campaign promise. PHOTO: CNA

Cabinet officials held a press conference yesterday in which they sought to highlight the difference between the proposed Suhua Freeway (蘇花高) and an alternative highway project, a day after comments by Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) in Hualien County reignited debate on the subject.

Cabinet Spokeswoman Vanessa Shih (史亞平) told reporters yesterday afternoon that media coverage of the premier’s new proposal, in which the government would resume construction of a part of the freeway that was “less controversial” as early as the end of the year, was “false and misleading.”

Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國), who was in attendance, said the new project should be viewed as the government’s attempt to improve transportation on the east coast given the frequent landslides and blockages that occur on the Suhua Highway (蘇花公路).

Showing reporters a map of the nation’s highways, Mao said that between 2004 and 2005 the section of the highway linking Nanao (南澳) to Hoping (和平) was closed for 32 days while travel on the highway was restricted to one-way traffic for 108 days.

Guaranteeing the “basic need for safe transportation” of residents in the east should be the first priority, he said, adding that the government considered this problem to be an issue of “social justice.”

Mao said it was unavoidable that the alternative highway alignment and the Suhua Freeway project would “overlap,” given the limited possibilities for route construction in the east.

“In the past, the public considered the Suhua Freeway project a tradeoff between economic development and environmental protection, but in terms of Taiwan’s current economic development, we should complete this alternative route,” he said.

“This is what a responsible government should do,” he said, adding that it was possible to strike a balance between social justice and environmental protection.

Earlier yesterday, environmentalists staged a protest in front of the Executive Yuan, atttacking Liu for seeking to “call the shots and act as president,” adding that Liu had broken President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) campaign promise to explore alternatives before deciding whether to construct the Suhua Freeway.

Late on Sunday, senior officials clarified the premier’s remarks and said the plan constituted a project to build an “alternative road.”

“The Cabinet is playing word games ... It is repackaging the Suhua Freeway as an ‘alternative route’ by breaking it up so that the freeway can be built in sections,” Green Party Taiwan Secretary-General Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) said.

Saying that Liu had decided on the construction before an environmental impact assessment (EIA) could be conducted, Pan added that “The premier is doing whatever he wants and is refusing to talk with the public ... the old Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] is back.”

“The premier must consider the environmental impact assessment panel to be a rubber stamp if he thinks that the construction project can be launched before the end of this year,” Pan said.

“It is also nonsense for Liu to say that this is the ‘least controversial’ section of the road, since it will cut directly across a conservation area,” Pan said.

“With the extent of global warming today, we must change the old belief that man should conquer nature,” he said.

“To Suhua supporters, the government says this construction is the Suhua Freeway; to those who are against it, the government says it is an ‘alternative route.’ As the KMT government’s support plunges, the Cabinet is trying to please both sides,” said Tsai Chung-yueh (蔡中岳), a native of Hualien studying at National Taipei University.

“This is not a conflict between the economy and the environment, but a conflict between a lack of foresight and long-term development,” said Robin Winkler, president of the Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association and a naturalized Taiwanese citizen from the US.

The freeway project is meant only to temporarily boost the gross domestic product and benefit a few people, he said.

If the government really cared for the grassroots, it would address real matters such as Hualien’s economic disadvantage, job shortages, the education gap and real estate price hikes, none of which can be resolved by a freeway, said Taroko Youth Association representative Ciwang Teyra, a member of the Truku tribe and a native of Hualien.

At a separate setting, Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) Minister Steven Shen (沈世宏) was approached by media yesterday for comment on the matter.

“The EPA’s position is simple: We are in charge of the EIA process and we are here to protect the environment,” he said.

“Any construction plan, whether it is the alternative to the Suhua Highway or the freeway itself, would have to pass an EIA before construction can commence,” he said.

Asked for comment, KMT Legislator Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁), a supporter of the Suhua Freeway, said the government should insist on the new proposal as long as it is a good policy.

Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) told reporters the government should come clean on whether the road it has proposed is the Suhua Freeway and whether its construction would require an environmental impact evaluation.

DPP Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) told a press conference at the legislature that Liu had met Master Cheng Yen (證嚴), founder of the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, to talk about energy and carbon emissions on Sunday morning, only to announce in the afternoon that the government would resume construction of part of the Suhua Freeway.

Chiu said Liu had deceived Cheng Yen and should apologize to her.

DPP Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) said the government’s plan to build an “alternative road to the dangerous section” of the existing Suhua Highway was designed to complete the Suhua Freeway by skirting regulations.

DPP caucus whip Yeh Yi-ching (葉宜津) said the government had violated the law because the project had not passed the necessary environmental evaluation.

She also accused Ma of breaking pledges he made during his presidential campaign.

Additional reporting by CNA
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