Residents living close to Taipei Songshan Airport protested outside the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday, saying the government should compensate them as quickly as possible for tolerating noise caused by landing and departing aircraft.
The protesters, led by candidate for Taipei City councilor Chen Teh-sien (陳德賢) of the Taiwan Solidarity Union, were mainly from Datong (大同) and Zhongshan (中山) districts. They said the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) had promised it would compensate 100 households living in the designated noise control zone every year by installing soundproof facilities.
“There are about 100,000 households located in the noise control zone,” the protesters said in a statement. “However, 10 years have passed and only 5,092 households have been compensated.”
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
The protesters said decibel levels measured by the CAA at selected locations were much lower than those measured by the residents themselves. They said noise pollution would be much higher when direct flights between -Songshan and Tokyo’s Haneda airports are launched later this month.
“The noise from the airport has caused long-term damage to the residents’ health,” Chen said. “Taipei City’s Department of Environmental Protection is responsible for executing the installation of soundproof facilities and should not pass the buck. It obviously has colluded with the CAA by only recognizing the standards that the CAA set for giving out compensation.”
The EPA said it would soon organize a meeting which the CAA and residents could attend to talk about solutions.
“We will focus on two things. One will be the actions taken by the CAA to reduce the noise generated by aircraft landing and taking off and the other will be to see if there is any other way to make soundproof facilities available sooner,” said Hsieh Yein-rui (謝燕儒), director of the EPA’s Air Quality Protection and Noise Control Department.
Hsieh said compensation for noise control was funded by aircraft landing fees paid by the airlines using Taipei Songshan Airport. To facilitate the installation of soundproof facilities, the Department of Environmental Protection has divided the residents into three categories based on decibel measurements. Those living in the Category III area, which has a measured decibel of 75 or above, will be given priority, followed by those in the Category II and Category I areas respectively.
EPA statistics showed the CAA has yet to finish the installation of soundproof facilities in Category III areas.
“In the past, Songshan could collect aircraft landing fees of about NT$100 million [US$3.25 million] per year,” Hsieh said. “The launch of the high-speed rail service hurt domestic flight services badly, which in turn caused the landing charge to drop drastically to approximately NT$30 million per year.”
The CAA said the locations where noise levels were measured were determined by the CAA, the department as well as local residents and, therefore, cannot call the shots.
Statistics from the CAA showed that approximately NT$1.5 billion has been spent on noise control between 2000 and this year and NT$900 million was used for the installation of soundproof facilities.
A total of 5,165 households in the noise control zone are qualified for compensation for soundproof facilities. So far, 50 have yet to have them installed, the CAA said.
Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr arrived in Taiwan last night to kick off his first visit to the country since beginning his second term earlier this year. After arriving at Taoyuan International Airport at around 6:30 pm, Whipps and his delegation were welcomed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍). Speaking to gathered media, the Palauan leader said he was excited and honored to be back in Taiwan on his first state visit to Taiwan since he was sworn in this January. Among those traveling with Whipps is Minister of State Gustav N. Aitaro, Public Infrastructure
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday thanked Palau for its continued support of Taiwan's international participation, as Taipei was once again excluded from the World Health Assembly (WHA) currently taking place in Switzerland. "Palau has never stopped voicing support for Taiwan" in the UN General Assembly, the WHO and other UN-affiliated agencies, Lai said during a bilateral meeting with visiting Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. "We have been profoundly touched by these endorsements," Lai said, praising the Pacific island nation's firm support as "courageous." Lai's remarks came as Taiwan was excluded for the ninth consecutive year from the WHA, which is being held in
RESOLUTIONS DEBATE: Taiwan’s allies said that UN and WHA resolutions cited by China and other nations ‘do not determine Taiwan’s participation in WHO activities’ A proposal to invite Taiwan to this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA) was rejected on Monday, resulting in Taipei’s absence from the annual meeting for a ninth consecutive year, although partners spoke up for Taiwan’s participation at the first day of the meeting. The first agenda item after the opening was a “two-on-two debate” on a proposal to invite Taiwan to participate at the WHA as an observer. Similar to previous years, two countries made statements in favor of the proposal, while two others expressed their opposition. Philippine Secretary of Health Teodoro Herbosa, president of the 78th WHA, accepted the WHA General Committee’s
At least three people died and more than a dozen were injured yesterday afternoon when a vehicle struck a group of pedestrians in New Taipei City’s Sansia District (三峽). The incident happened at about 4pm when a car rammed into pedestrians at an intersection near Bei Da Elementary School. Witnesses said the sedan, being driven at a high speed, ran a red light, knocking scooters out of the way and hitting students crossing the road before careening into a median near the intersection of Guocheng and Guoguang streets. The incident resulted in three deaths and 13 injuries, including the driver, a 78-year-old man
RSS