Print

Mail

wiki links

Youth groups call for hold on Suhua Freeway project

Pan-blue and pan-green youth groups joined forces and rallied in front of the Executive Yuan yesterday calling on the Cabinet to reject plans for the controversial Suhua Freeway.

The demonstration took place a day before the freeway's confirmation meeting scheduled to take place at the Environmental Protection Administration today.

Urging the government to think green in national development plans, the congregation, including around 20 groups such as the National Taiwan University (NTU) youth society and international association for Taiwan Aborigines volunteer services, campaigned for stakeholders of the Suhua case to opt for more environmentally friendly alternatives.

Attendees included Freddy Lim (林昶佐), lead vocalist of the Taiwanese black metal band Chthonic (閃靈), who is known for his pro-independence stance and as head of Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) presidential election campaign youth department -- "Freddy Action" -- as well as Lai Ming-lun (賴名倫), who headed the Chinese National Party's (KMT) national youth campaign.

"While providing Hualien residents with a safe way to travel home is indisputably important, there are greener alternatives than building an expensive freeway that will have a heavy impact on the environment," said NTU medical student Lin Hsuan-yu (林軒毓), representing the students.

"For example, it is evident that land infrastructure does not fit the needs of Hualien, an area with lots of seismic activity -- instead, [the government] should consider building a `blue freeway' on the ocean and start a ferry service along the east coast," the Hualien native said.

An 800-passenger capacity, high speed ferry equipped with four jet-engines can travel up to 70kph, he said, adding that a similar ferry began serving travelers in Japan's Tsugaru Strait (between Honshu and Hokkaido) last September.

"At this speed, it would take a mere hour for travelers to go from Hualien City to Suao (蘇澳)," Lin said.

In addition to passengers, produce grown in the East could similarly reach Taipei in a little over two hours, he said.

The groups also demanded that the Cabinet freeze the review of the Suhua project "like it is freezing the review of all other cases, like oil prices," until the inauguration of the new government, Lin said.

"Now is not the time to make rash decisions, with days left for the existing Cabinet," Lin said.

Many unresolved issues that remain regarding the Suhua proposal warrant a sufficient amount of time for all of the relevant stakeholders to mull them over, Lin said.

A petition was then presented to Cabinet representative Chuang Hung-su (莊宏司), who accepted the students' appeal documents.
This story has been viewed 1141 times.