An open hearing is needed to ease public anxiety over the expensive Suao-Hualien Freeway project, legislators and lawyers said yesterday.
According to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Eugene Jao (
Chao said that data included in the EIA report was collected prior to 1997 and is out of date.
"We have sufficient reason to question the EIA's report. Over the last seven years, the devastating 921 Earthquake, typhoons and other natural disasters have changed the ecological and geological conditions at the proposed construction site for the freeway," Chao said at a press conference.
The project, with an estimated cost of NT$96.2 billion, aims to build an 86.5km four-lane traffic connecting Suao in Ilan with Chian in Hualien. Engineers plan to tunnel several sections -- a total length of about 40km -- through the eastern part of the Central Mountain Range.
Chan Chun-kuei (
"If there's any administrative neglect involving the project's EIA evaluation, it deserves to be investigated," Chan said.
Chan and other lawyers representing the association said that an open hearing is needed to ease the public's anxiety over the expensive project.
Meanwhile, scholars, labor unionists and environmental activists voiced their criticisms of the freeway project at another press conference. More than 100 academics stated their opposition to the project. Hsia Yue-joe (
"Building huge constructions in eastern Taiwan is inappropriate because natural disasters are common there," Hsia said.
Hsia said that the government should improve local infrastructure in order to transform Hualien into a quality tourist attraction.
Members of Taiwan Railway Labor Union yesterday also expressed their opposition, saying that the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) has contradictory plans.
According to Chen Han-chin (
"Our union members' right to work might be jeopardized because of the freeway project," Chen said.
Chen Jiau-hua (
Chen said the project would be a hazard, because the proposed route passes through 17 environmentally sensitive areas and national parks.
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