In his policy address to the legislature yesterday, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) applauded revisions proposed by Academia Sinica to a controversial plan to transform a former munitions depot into a biotechnology park, saying the new plan would “diminish the [negative] impact on the environment.”
In 2007, the then-Democratic Progressive Party administration allotted Academia Sinica 25.3 hectares to build a 9.6 hectare biotechnology park in Nangang District (南港), Taipei, on an 185 hectare plot of land previously used by the military’s 202 Munitions Works to manufacture and store munitions.
Under the initial proposal, Academia Sinica planned to construct buildings close to wetlands.
However, after the plan created an outcry among environmentalists and a prominent writer, who called for further protection of the wetlands, the academic institution on Friday presented a revised plan to the Executive Yuan, reducing the area of the project from 9.6 hectares to 4 hectares, with total floor space reduced from 75,000 ping (248,000m²) to 37,000 ping. The total budget for the project was also cut from NT$27.02 billion (US$860 million) to NT$22.28 billion, Wu said.
In its revised proposal, Academia Sinica said it had also abandoned a plan to construct buildings around the wetlands.
It also gave up plans to build a dormitory compound at the site and it now proposes to use the area to house the National Laboratory Animal Center, currently located on Heping E Road. All the buildings to be constructed in the park will be concentrated on the land that was used by the military.
The new proposal is under review by the Council for Economic Development and Planning and it must undergo an environmental impact assessment by the Environmental Protection Administration.
The controversy came to a head on June 1, when author Chang Hsiao-feng (張曉風) published an open letter to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) titled: “Can I have two lungs, Mr President?”
Several environmental groups and some prominent figures in arts and culture joined her appeal, calling on the government to turn the green field into the nation’s equivalent of New York’s Central Park.
Chang could not be reached for comment yesterday.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
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