The government yesterday “conditionally approved” an initial environmental assessment for a proposed national biotechnology research park near a Taipei wetland, despite criticism from environmentalists.
The project will be re--evaluated for final approval at another environmental assessment meeting, possibly next month at the earliest.
Yesterday was the third -meeting held by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) to review the project and environmental experts gave the project’s developer, Academia Sinica, 10 conditions to meet before they could fully approve the park.
The conditions included maintaining the ecosystem in the wetlands area, forming a committee to supervise the protection of the wetland, as well as obtaining green building credentials.
The proposed park would be located at the 202 Arsenal, an abandoned military facility in Taipei’s Nangang District (南港).
Academia Sinica president Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠) said the nation’s top academic research body would factor in these conditions and produce a more detailed report on how to meet them.
Wong acknowledged that his organization has learned a lot from activists who were advocating for the preservation of the wetlands.
Wong expressed optimism that the project could receive final approval by June 10 and that it would be built by 2017.
Despite Academia Sinica’s assurances that it would protect the wetlands, environmental groups are doubtful, saying that once the ecosystem is damaged, projects to save it would be of no use.
“Let’s give these wetlands a break,” Chang Hsiao-feng (張曉風), a local writer who strongly opposes the project, said at the meeting yestersday. “It would be very easy to find another -location for the biotech park. Let this -ecosystem stay intact.”
The area has been previously described by Chang as “Taipei’s last plot of green land,” for which she has knelt in front of television cameras and begged for the preservation of the wetlands.
Liao Pen-chuan (廖本全), a professor in National Taipei University’s Department of Real Estate and Built Environment, said the park should not be built in Taipei because the capital is overcrowded.
He said Academia Sinica should set a good example and move the project to another area.
A fourth public debate was held today about restarting the recently decommissioned Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, ahead of a referendum on the controversial issue to be held in less than two weeks. A referendum on Aug. 23 is to ask voters if they agree that “the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant should continue operations upon approval by the competent authority and confirmation that there are no safety concerns.” Anyone over 18 years of age can vote in the referendum. The vote comes just three months after its final reactor shut down, officially making Taiwan nuclear-free. Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) represented
ENDORSING TAIWAN: Honduran presidential candidate Nasry Afura said that Honduras was ‘100 times better off’ when it was allied with Taipei The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it would explore the possibility of restoring diplomatic relations with Honduras based on the principle of maintaining national interests and dignity. The ministry made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions regarding an article titled: “Will Taiwan Regain a Diplomatic Ally?” published in The Diplomat on Saturday. The article said Honduras’ presidential election in November could offer Taiwan the chance to regain an ally, as multiple candidates have promoted re-establishing diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Honduras severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in March 2023 in favor of Beijing, but since switching its diplomatic recognition,
Scoot announced yesterday that starting in October, it would increase flights between Taipei and Japan’s Narita airport and Hokkaido, and between Singapore and Taipei. The low-cost airline, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, also said it would launch flights to Chiang Rai in Thailand, Okinawa and Tokyo’s Haneda airport between December and March next year. Flights between Singapore and Chiang Rai would begin on Jan. 1, with five flights per week operated by an Embraer E190-E2 aircraft, Scoot said. Flights between Singapore and Okinawa would begin on Dec. 15, with three flights per week operated by Airbus A320 aircraft, the airline said. Services between Singapore
‘ANGRY’: Forgetting the humiliations and sacrifices of ‘the people of the Republic of China’ experienced disqualified Lai from being president, Ma Ying-jeou said Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday criticized President William Lai (賴清德) over what he called “phrasing that downplayed Japan’s atrocities” against China during World War II. Ma made the remarks in a post on Facebook on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Ma said he was “angry and disappointed” that Lai described the anniversary as the end of World War II instead of a “victory in the war of resistance” — a reference to the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). The eight-year war was a part of World War II, in which Japan and the other Axis
RSS