Unlicensed buildings in Kenting spark crackdown

The Control Yuan passed corrective measures yesterday against the Pingtung County government and the Hengchuen (恆春) urban township for their failure to clamp down on unlicensed buildings in Kenting National Park.

According to the corrective measures, the two government bodies failed to actively prevent the construction of unlicensed buildings, which resulted in a growing number of illegal structures in Kenting National Park.

The unlicensed buildings hurt the park's environmental quality and damaged the nation's image, the Control Yuan document said.

The Control Yuan could recommend the impeachment of the local government heads should they fail to improve the situation.

Among the illegal buildings, The Cattle Ear restaurant (牛耳餐廳) has been cited several times by the local government as operating without a license.

However, due to delays in tearing down the building, the restaurant has actually extended its floor space to over 1,000 pings, according to Control Yuan members.

Leading the initiative were members Lin Chu-liang (林鉅鋃) and Lin Jiang-tsai (林將財) who proposed the corrective measures according to the Control Law, Article 24, which gives the Control Yuan the power to require the Executive Yuan and its subordinate bodies to make improvements.

Senior Control Yuan aide Chen Rui-zhou (陳瑞周) said that unlicensed building problems exist everywhere. Chen also said the Control Yuan understands that the local governments have limited human resources and facilities to deal with such problems.

However, "if local government cannot face such problems, these issues will become more serious," Chen said.

Kenting National Park is a major tourist attraction in southern Taiwan known for its beautiful scenery.

However the growing number of visitors to the park has caught the eye of businesses willing to take the risk of building unlicensed hotels and restaurants.