The Tourism Bureau yesterday decided to extend the bidding process of a development project on Chipei islet (吉貝嶼), Penghu County, in the face of pressure from conservationists and pro-environment legislators.
Yesterday morning, legislators and a dozen representatives from environmental groups protested in front of the bureau, saying the invitation of bids related to the development on Chipei islet violates the law.
At a two-hour meeting of high-ranking officials from the bureau, legislators said the development project should be suspended immediately.
"It's a miracle," DPP Legislator Eugene Jao (
According to the Penghu National Scenic Area Administration under the bureau, an impact-assessment report produced by an environmental-engineering company is almost complete. Next month, officials said, the report will be sent to the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) for approval.
Meanwhile, the administration has called for candidates for the project to file their bids by Sept. 18. The winning bid will be chosen by the end of November. The approved developer will have to follow the impact assessment to execute the project. The winner will be entitled to run the business on the islet for 50 years.
Jao argued that the administrative procedure was questionable because the assessment was not done by the developer itself.
"In addition, the assessment only examined a 4.4-hectare area of land rather than the whole area under threat from the development," Jao said.
According to the bureau's BOT (build-operate-transfer) bidding documents, the more than NT$300 million investment would turn 22 hectares of land and 210 hectares of surrounding sea into an international recreational tourist spot. Shopping malls, restaurants, a five-star hotel containing 350 rooms and parking lots would be established.
"If the BOT project on Chipei islet becomes a precedent, we can imagine that all state-owned land could be traded with big business easily," said Lai Wei-chieh (
Lai said that notorious BOT projects, including those on Green Island (
"The Chipei case even shows signs of simplified administrative procedures, which ensure the rights and interests of developers," Lai said.
Su Cherng-tyan (蘇成田), director general of the Tourism Bureau, said at the meeting that the time interval between the closure of the first stage of applications on Sept. 18 and the date designating an ideal developer would be prolonged.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition