Professors of National Taiwan University (NTU) yesterday explained once again that their decision not to give a plot of the school's land in Luku township (鹿谷鄉) in Nantou County to Neihu Elementary School (NES, 內湖國小) was based on safety concerns, not simply to hold on to the school's property.
Their statement that the decision was based on their concern for the primary school students rebutted President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) denouncement on Thursday, when he accused them of being "unkind" to the elementary school's pupils.
"Yushuikeng (有水坑) [the piece of land in dispute] was not only determined by the report conducted by the NTU investigative team to be susceptible to mud flows and rock falls but reports released by National Cheng Kung University's Disaster Prevention Research Center and the Council of Agriculture both reached the same conclusion," said Hongey Chen (陳宏宇), a professor of geology at NTU.
Chen, along with numerous agricultural and geological scholars, made his comments at a press conference held at NTU yesterday.
"If the Executive Yuan were to issue a letter requesting the school authorities give away this property, the school would obey the order. However, [professors in charge of the investigative task force] would not change their conclusion that this plot of land is an unsafe location for a school."
Following the president's censure, Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (
NES has been looking for a new site since the school was damaged by the Sept, 21, 1999 earthquake.
Conflicts between NTU and NES started last June after an NTU investigative team appraised the NTU-run Yushuikeng -- the land NES picked over seven other choices -- and said it was the least appropriate site for a school due to serious safety hazards. The professors also noted that Yushuikeng has been a flourishing pine forest since the 1950s and cutting down the trees would undermine its ecological balance.
NTU suggested the elementary school be reconstructed on its current site, saying it was not situated in a high-risk zone and thus was still a suitable place for children.
They also noted the current 0.4-hectare site was spacious enough for 120 or so students. There was therefore no need to spend NT$40 million relocating.
After months of inconclusive negotiations, the NES turned to the Ministry of Education for help.
Fan Sun-lu (范巽綠), vice minister of education, yesterday accused NTU of being a road block to the school's reconstruction project, adding the ministry and Luku villagers were "fed up with the university's lack of cooperation."
She said the ministry had been negotiating with NTU for the past eight months, but NTU always used safety concerns as an excuse for their reluctance to give away their right to manage the land.
"The education ministry has sought opinions from other organizations. For example, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology said, based on their evaluation, Yushuikeng is a safe site as long as the school is build a safe distance from the mud flow-prone zone," said Fan.
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