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Cabinet’s Suhua plan angers activists

In response to Premier Liu Chao-shiuan’s (劉兆玄) sudden announcement yesterday concerning the Suhua Freeway, environmentalists who had long fought against the construction of the freeway said they were “shocked, disappointed, and regretful.”

“Although the Ministry of Transportation and Communications [MOTC] later clarified that the construction is technically not the Suhua Freeway, the ministry says the road is to be built on the proposed Suhua route, in accordance with freeway standards. This is just a way to give the Suhua Freeway another name,” said Pan Han-sheng (潘翰聲), secretary-general of the Green Party Taiwan.

“The decision to construct the freeway is extremely rough around the edges. Prior to the [presidential] election, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said that careful evaluation needed to be done, that no rash decisions should be made on this controversial construction plan and that alternatives exist to the freeway,” he said.

“But the new government is making this decision 50 days after its inauguration by listening to a handful of bureaucrats, without any communication with the public,” he said.

Pan was referring to a campaign promise Ma made in February. During a campaign event prior to the presidential election in March, he urged the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] government to “avoid making a ‘big move’ [prior to the presidential election].”

“It’s inappropriate for a caretaker government to make any rash moves,” Ma was quoted as saying at the time, adding that other transportation plans and supplementary measures, including limiting the number of trucks on highways and improving the quality of railways, needed to be put in place.

In addition to saying the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government was being rash, environmentalists also lambasted it for violating “procedural justice.”

“The proper procedure for any major construction has been that the MOTC obtains a pass from the Environmental Protection Administration’s [EPA] environmental impact assessment [EIA] committee before starting any construction,” said Tsai Chung-yueh (蔡中岳), a native of Hualien who attends National Taipei University.

Since the Suhua case’s EIA was rejected in April and sent back to the MOTC — after more than a decade of debate and review — the case is not technically being reviewed by the government now, he said.

“Only an autocratic government would do whatever they want like this … I am shocked, disappointed and regretful,” Tsai said, adding that environmental groups, including GPT and Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association, would stage a protest in front of the Executive Yuan today.

Asked for comments about the case, EPA Minister Steven Shen (沈世宏) yesterday said: “If the Cabinet wishes to build the Suhua Freeway or Highway, whether they choose to refile the old proposal or draft a new one, they would need to send the administration their proposal.”

At a separate setting, DPP caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said the caucus opposes the government’s plan to construct the Suhua Freeway because the project has not passed the necessary environmental evaluation. He also blasted Ma for breaking his campaign pledge.

KMT caucus secretary-general Chang Sho-wen (張碩文), on the other hand, said the KMT caucus would respect the Cabinet’s decision “because the premier made the announcement after evaluating the needs of the people in eastern Taiwan.”

Additional reporting by Flora Wang and Rich Chang


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