The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday lashed out at the Environmental Impact Review Committee for failing to present a detailed analysis to prove that the construction of a freeway connecting Ilan County's Suao to Hualien would have a major ecological impact in eastern Taiwan.
"We have not seen concrete information on how the ecology or which natural landscape would be destroyed [if the freeway were built]. What we have seen is lacking in specifics," DPP caucus whip Wang Sing-nan (
Wang added that the accident rate on the existing highway between the two locations is 22.6 times that on national freeways.
"Should all people in Hualien risk their lives when they travel between eastern Taiwan and Taipei?" Wang said. "I think that is unfair."
"We have not seen any specific reason or fact [to support environmentalists' argument]. What we can see is that it is very dangerous to travel on the existing highway," Wang said. "The welfare of people living in eastern Taiwan should also be considered."
Wang was also asked to comment on a report published in the Chinese-language China Times yesterday, which said that some DPP legislators would like to invite members of the environmental committee to take a "test" travel on the highway connecting Suao and Hualien during rainy days.
Asked how he thought committee members would react, Wang reiterated that the committee should present firm evidence if it wanted to convince the caucus that the construction project would have an adverse ecological impact.
"In fact, public construction and environmental protection should be able to co-exist," he said. "For example, there is a wide highway leading to the Yellowstone National Park in the US, but I have never heard tourists or environmental protection experts question the highway's reason for being."
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