The shelved construction of the Tambei Expressway [Tamsui-Taipei Expressway] became the focus of debate in the legislature yesterday.
The expressway, part of plans to expand Provincial Highway 2 in Tamsui Township (淡水), Taipei County, was rejected by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) last year.
During a question-and-answer session with Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) Minister Steven Shen (沈世宏), Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) said: “To alleviate congestion along Provincial Highway 2, we are going to expand it. We will inevitably have to build an alternative route during the construction period … As the project was rejected by the EPA last year, I would like to ask you where you stand on the issue.”
As a resident who lives in front of some of the mangroves, Wu said he sees the vegetation was covering a larger area.
“The mangroves are inching further toward land, so people increasingly have to withdraw inland,” he said. “Yet we are protecting the mangroves like they’re a national treasure.”
Shen responded by saying that if the expressway proposal was to be resubmitted, it would need to go through another environmental impact assessment.
At a separate meeting, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) said Wu’s comments were “ridiculous.”
“Legislator Wu made the comments because he has no idea what mangroves and their ecosystem mean to Taiwan,” Lin said.
Mangroves growing along the Tamsui River are natural wonders because they are usually found in tropical areas, and hardly ever at such high latitudes as Taiwan, Lin said.
“Wu is ignorant of the biodiversity that is harbored in mangroves and how the human invasion has jeopardized their survival,” Lin said.
“The extinction of many species has been caused by the stupidity of humans. This is the consensus of the global environmental protection movement. Even if Wu has no knowledge of this, he should at least have common sense,” she said.
The expressway project was “tailor-made” for construction companies hoping to develop real estate in Tamsui, Lin said.
“Rows of new apartment buildings are built there, mostly empty with no buyers, so of course the construction companies want new roads there to help them sell apartments … However, Tamsui should not have been so heavily developed in the first place,” she said.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
The age requirement for commercial pilots and airline transport pilots is to be lowered by two years, to 18 and 21 years respectively, to expand the pool of pilots in accordance with international standards, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced today. The changes are part of amendments to articles 93, 119 and 121 of the Regulations Governing Licenses and Ratings for Airmen (航空人員檢定給證管理規則). The amendments take into account age requirements for aviation personnel certification in the Convention on International Civil Aviation and EU’s aviation safety regulations, as well as the practical needs of managing aviation personnel licensing, the ministry said. The ministry
RSS