The Taipei High Court struck a major blow against the Taipei City Government’s controversial Beitou Gondola (北投纜車) project on Thursday by nullifying the project’s environmental evaluation result.
The ruling has been hailed as a major victory for the coalition of environmental groups, Beitou residents and Beitou District culture preservation organizations that have been fighting the project.
After the ruling was handed down, more than 30 activists from the coalition and supporters gathered at Beitou Park to urge the city government not to appeal the ruling.
Photo: Wu Liang-yi, Taipei Times
Attorney Severia Lu (陸詩薇), spokesperson for the Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association, said that experts have spoken out against the project, citing the fragile nature of the area’s volcanic rock strata and questions over slope stability, the numerous underground hot spring veins in the area, the severe corrosion problem sulfuric fumes could create for the gondola’s metallic structures, environmental degradation and traffic congestion issues.
“The court decision is belated justice for concerned citizens. It is a victory for Beitou area residents, and for protecting the environment against ill-considered development by the city government and big business interests,” Taipei City Councilor Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said.
However, city officials said they will meet with Ministry of the Interior and Environmental Protection Agency representatives to discuss the ruling.
The city government yesterday appeared inclined to continue pushing for the project.
The idea to develop a 4.7km system that would run from Bei-tou Park to Yangmingshan National Park began more than 20 years ago under former Taipei mayor Huang Ta-chou (黃大洲).
Many Beitou residents and activist groups have fought the city, the developer — Li Shan Lin Co (儷山林), which belongs to Lealea Group (力儷集團) — and the Bei-tou business community, who wanted the gondola to help promote tourism in the area, as well as relieve weekend and holiday traffic conjestion on Yangda Boulevard, the main road to and from Yangmingshan National Park.
Despite widespread opposition, a bribery scandal in 2007 and unsolved safety and engineering issues, the project gained conditional approval from the city’s environmental evaluation committee in December 2012.
Before that, it had undergone three earlier environmental evaluation meetings.
Environmental groups filed a lawsuit following the 2012 decision, citing numerous improper procedures and alleged illegal practices through the environmental evaluation process.
The Taipei High Court on Thursday said the project should not be under Taipei City Government’s administration, but should come under the Ministry of the Interior, because more than 80 percent of the project will be inside Yangmingshan National Park.
The court said the city was the main authority for the project, and it was listed as joint developer with the Li Shan Lin, which indicated a conflict of interest that could benefit the firm. The court said it was nullifying the result of the environmental evaluation process because of questions about its fairness and objectivity.
Additional reporting by Wu Po-hsuan, Lin Mei-fen and Lin Hui-chin
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique