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Activists say Suhua approval another election ploy

Environmental groups yesterday accused the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) of rushing to approve construction of the Suhua Freeway to woo voters in the run-up to the presidential election on March 22.

"It is regrettable that the EPA has stooped so low as to turn itself into a rubber stamp [for the administration]," Society of Wilderness' Tony Chou (周東漢) said.

Chou said that with the freeway being passed under the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration, brownie points from Hualien could be earned.

The pan-blue camp could also get a share of the credit since the main advocate for the freeway is Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Hualien Legislator Fu Kun-chi (傅焜萁), Chou said.

"However, both presidential candidates have maintained an ambiguous position on the issue to retain voters who oppose the freeway," Green Party Taiwan Secretary-General Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) said.

A gathering of some 20 environmental groups yesterday presented "gifts" -- a piece of mochi for KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and a guava for his DPP rival Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) -- at the campaign headquarters of the two candidates.

One of the environmental activists said the mochi -- a Hualien sticky rice specialty dessert -- was representative of Ma," a softy who failed to keep Fu under control."

As for the guava for Hsieh, it was a Mandarin pun on his failure to keep his promise of sustainable development for east Taiwan and to "remove himself from President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) influence."

Meanwhile, EPA Deputy Minister Chang Tzi-chin (張子敬) yesterday dismissed media reports that the administration had pre-drafted meeting conclusions before Monday's six-house debate on whether to construct the NT$100 billion (US$832 million) freeway.

"Everything that took place in the meeting proceeded in accordance with the guidelines," he said.

He also rebutted comments that the agency had proposed dividing the freeway into sections to facilitate their review and approval.

"The suggestion that the section of the freeway that runs through mountain areas be built first [and plains later] was proposed in earlier case committee meetings," he said.

"We mentioned the proposal again yesterday as a courtesy to some members who joined the discussion for the first time," he added.
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