Hundreds of environmentalists gathered in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) yesterday morning, demanding that it halt construction of Special Expressway No.2 (特二號快速道路) in order to protect the Nanzai Stream (湳仔溪) in Banciao (板橋), Taipei County.
The 30km expressway, which connects Tucheng (土城) with Wugu (五股) and passes through Taishan (泰山) and Sinjhuang (新莊), is scheduled to be completed by 2010.
Members of the Banciao Rivers Association dressed up as crabs and shrimp and put on a skit in front of the ministry building, before handing a petition to a ministry representative.
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
The association said in a statement that the stream has strong connections to the history of Banciao and that it was the only waterway in the Taipei Area where large trees grow along the banks.
However, the ministry has chosen not to preserve the stream and has insisted on building an overpass above it, the statement said.
The association denounced Taipei County Commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) as a “river terminator” and demanded that MOTC Minister Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) step down over the plan. The association further demanded that the ministry halt construction on the section spanning the stream. Designs for two other sections of the expressway should also be altered, they said.
In response, the ministry’s Directorate General of Highways said that construction would continue as planned as it was impossible for the ministry to stop the construction.
Lee Chung-yun (李仲昀), a section chief at Taipei County’s Public Works Bureau, said the project was evaluated by the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) before being finalized in 2004.
“The stream is nothing but stagnant water now because it has been cut off from its source,” he said.
As part of the construction project, Lee said the Taipei County Government had budgeted NT$950 million to revitalize the stream. He also said that the overpass was not being built right above the stream, but over higher land to the west.
Lee said two completed sections of the expressway would soon be opened to traffic, which would help divert part of the flow of traffic into the city. The consequences of any delay would be unthinkable, he said.
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
Taiwanese indie band Sunset Rollercoaster and South Korean outfit Hyukoh collectively received the most nominations at this year’s Golden Melody Awards, earning a total of seven nods from the jury on Wednesday. The bands collaborated on their 2024 album AAA, which received nominations for best band, best album producer, best album design and best vocal album recording. “Young Man,” a single from the album, earned nominations for song of the year and best music video, while another track, “Antenna,” also received a best music video nomination. Late Hong Kong-American singer Khalil Fong (方大同) was named the jury award winner for his 2024 album
Hong Kong singer Eason Chan’s (陳奕迅) concerts in Kaohsiung this weekend have been postponed after he was diagnosed with Covid-19 this morning, the organizer said today. Chan’s “FEAR and DREAMS” concert which was scheduled to be held in the coming three days at the Kaohsiung Arena would be rescheduled to May 29, 30 and 31, while the three shows scheduled over the next weekend, from May 23 to 25, would be held as usual, Universal Music said in a statement. Ticket holders can apply for a full refund or attend the postponed concerts with the same seating, the organizer said. Refund arrangements would
RSS