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Construction of the Suhua Freeway may cost NT$100bn

The government may have to spend more than it planned should the construction of the Suhua Freeway begin now, the Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau said yesterday.

The bureau's deputy director- general Tseng Dar-jen (曾大仁) said yesterday that the price of construction materials had risen 30 percent in the past three years. The construction costs for the entire project may now exceed NT$100 billion (US$3.125 billion).

In 2003, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications only budgeted NT$93.7 billion for the project.

Tseng also participated in an environmental impact review of the planned Suhua Freeway at the Environmental Protection Administration on Thursday. He said yesterday that the bureau would quickly provide the supplementary information the committee members had requested.

He stated that the bureau had already adjusted the planned route of the Suhua Freeway at the request of local residents. Residents in Wuta (武塔), Ilan County, for example, had asked for the freeway to be built a little further away from the community. Also, to protect the natural beauty of Chingshui (清水) coastal cliff, Hualien County, the route will now be built approximately 700m to 1,100m away from the coast line, and will be constructed inside a tunnel.

Some of the committee members opposed the construction of the freeway on the grounds that it will be built among high mountains, generally defined as those whose altitude is 1,500m and above. In response, Tseng said the highest point of the planned route will be 104m above sea level. The highest point of the Chiang Wei-shui Freeway, in comparison, is 200m.

Regarding the request for a new environmental impact review, Tseng said the EPA had already approved the launch of the project in 2002. The administration has to consider whether overthrowing a previous decision by undergoing a second review will generate any legal issues, he said.
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