Transportation officials yesterday expressed optimism over the controversial Suao-Hualien freeway (
"I believe the environmental impact assessments will be passed soon," Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Ling-san (
The ministry yesterday proposed a NT$3.3 billion budget for the construction of the freeway next year.
"The highway project has been initiated to boost the local economy. We never said that we will abandon the project," Lin said.
The contested NT$96.2 billion project has been put on hold after Premier Yu Shyi-kun announced its suspension in December last year, after Hualien County Commissioner Hsieh Shen-shan (謝深山) gave voice to local environmentalists' strong opposition.
Last month, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) demanded that the freeway authority, the Taiwan Area National Expressway Engineering Bureau, detail the possible environmental impact and "give serious thought" to an alternative development project, such as the Hualien-Taitung Express Train project initiated by the Council of Economic Planning and Development.
Despite the freeway bill increasingly becoming a battleground for different government agencies, the bureau said that it will push ahead with the project.
"We have done comprehensive geological and hydrological surveys on the areas where the highway will pass through. The EPA's review is part of administrative procedures. The construction of the highway is simply a matter of time," bureau director-general Bane Chiou (
According to the bureau, the construction companies involved -- Taiwan's Longda Construction Co and the Japanese firm Maeda Kaisha -- can legally demand compensation if the bureau fails to break ground for the project by early 2006.
However, academics said the economic cost could be even higher if the freeway is built.
"Every Taiwanese citizen will be paying between NT$200,000 and NT$300,000 for the highway. Does the government tell the people about the price? This only indicates the government's fiscal irresponsibility," said Hsia Yue-joe (
Hsia said the freeway project was no more than a rough election gambit when President Chen Shui-bian (
"It is a leftover from local politicking. Who decided to build the highway? The president. Instead of a bottom-up approach to formulate the policy, the government only plays up the project to woo voters," he said.
Although both elected legislators in the Hualien constituency, the Democratic Progressive Party's nominee Lu Po-chi (
"The voting rate in Hualien plummeted to lower than 50 percent, the lowest in the whole nation. It shows that not all Hualien people want the freeway. It is just a question of whose voice gets heard," he said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is next month to hold an exhibition in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the rich and unique history of Taiwanese folklore and literature. The exhibition, which is to run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20 at the city’s Central Public Hall, is part of the “We Taiwan” at Expo 2025 series, highlighting Taiwan’s cultural ties with the international community, National Museum of Taiwan Literature director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said. Folklore and literature, among Taiwan’s richest cultural heritages, naturally deserve a central place in the global dialogue, Chen said. Taiwan’s folklore would be immediately apparent at the entrance of the
Speeding and badly maintained roads were the main causes of a school bus accident on a rainy day in Taipei last year that severely injured two people and left 22 with minor injuries, the Taiwan Transportation and Safety Board said. On March 11 last year, a Kang Chiao International School bus overturned inside the Wenshan Tunnel (文山隧道) on the northbound lane of the Xinyi Expressway. The tour bus, owned by Long Lai Co, exceeded the speed limit after entering the tunnel, the board’s investigation found. Sensing that the rear of the vehicle was swaying, the driver attempted to use the service and exhaust
Central and southern Taiwan are to see increasingly heavy rainfall from last night through Friday due to the effects of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said Tropical Storm Co-May had weakened into a low-pressure system on Saturday, but that it strengthened again into a tropical depression (TD 11) near the seas around Japan's Ryukyu Islands due to favorable environmental conditions. The tropical depression is expected to persist for two to three days, moving west-northwest by this afternoon and reaching China's Zhejiang through the East China Sea tomorrow,
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