Hundreds of residents and four local self-help associations in Greater Taichung protested against the expropriation of their land in front of the Greater Taichung Government building yesterday.
Residents from Wenshan (文山) in Nantun District (南屯), Jioshe (舊社) in Beitun District (北屯), Dali District (大里), and Shinan (溪南) in Wuri Township (烏日) are facing compulsory land expropriation for the creation of industrial zones and an expansion of the Taichung MRT depot.
The organizer of the rally, Wenshan Industrial District Paoshan Self-Help Association chairperson Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書), said the government planned to seize land, farmland and houses for a price equivalent to about one-fifth of their current market value.
Photo: Chan Chao-yang, Taipei Times
The 193-hectare Wenshan Industrial District will leave farmers with no home and no jobs, Huang said.
People who own more than 1,620m2 of land are to be reimbursed with an equivalent plot of land at a separate location, while farmers are to receive about 40 percent of the size of their original land at another location, Huang said, as their original land, which is closer to the downtown area, would be seized by the government for a new residential zone, forcing them to relocate to more remote areas.
In addition, Huang said residents were worried that part of the industrial district would be designated as a Type A Industrial Zone, which could increase pollution in the area.
The government passed the responsibility of getting approval by the Environmental Protection Administration’s Environmental Impact Assessment to individual landowners, he said.
Taichung MRT Depot Expansion Zone Expropriation Self-Help Association chairperson Chao Chun-an (趙俊安) said hundreds of households would be uprooted as a result of government plans to expand the depot zone from 19 hectares to 85 hectares.
Shinan Self-Help Association chairperson Chang Huan-chang (張煥昌) said more than 10,000 people living in the 500 hectare area faced land expropriation for industrial use.
It is unfair for illegally built factories to become legal after the area is redesignated as an industrial zone, while small farmers will have no way to make a living because they have no resources or ability to establish factories, Chang said, adding that some residents who relied on loans would have no way to pay them back if they were forced to abandon their farms and houses.
The groups urged the central government to respect the residents’ rights to life and employment, as well as property protection as stipulated by the Constitution, and to amend the Land Expropriation Act (土地徵收條例) to avoid distortion of definitions of public benefit, which they say is often used as an excuse for land expropriation.
The groups also urged the city government to halt the land expropriation plans to protect agriculture in Taiwan, adding that food self-sufficiency and environmental protection are becoming increasingly important.
ATTACKED: The patrol cutter, accompanied by two other vessels, was clearing illegal fishing nets when the fishing boats rammed it. Repairs are expected to cost NT$1.2m Taiwan’s newest Coast Guard Administration (CGA) patrol vessel was damaged after being rammed by Chinese fishing boats near Kinmen County. It was the second confrontation this month in which shots were fired to repel Chinese fishing boats. Chen Chien-wen (陳建文), chief of the coast guard’s Offshore Flotilla No. 9 unit for Kinmen County, said that on Monday a dozen Chinese fishing boats entered Taiwan’s territorial waters near Little Kinmen (小金門), also known as Lieyu (烈嶼), close to the coast of China’s Fujian Province. “We are happy to report that no coast guard personnel were hurt in the incident, but the new CGA
Each local government must implement disease prevention policies based on its own considerations, so they cannot be identical, Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) said yesterday. Her remarks were in response to questions about why Taipei did not follow New Taipei City in closing all public sports centers, activity centers and museums for 14 days, starting on Friday. New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) made the sudden announcement to close those areas at the opening of a public sports center on Thursday to reduce gatherings of people in confined spaces and to prevent the spread of COVID-19, as a person confirmed
ADEQUATE COVERAGE: New Taipei City, which has more than 9,500 people under home quarantine, said it would add another 450 rooms at its disease prevention hotels The Taipei City Government has added a fourth designated disease prevention hotel, allowing people under 14-day home quarantine to isolate themselves from NT$5,000 per day, it said yesterday. The Taipei Department of Information and Tourism launched the first disease prevention hotel on Feb. 21 to accommodate travelers without a place to stay during mandatory home isolation or quarantine, and for people who want to separate themselves from their family members or roommates during quarantine. The department said that as of yesterday, more than 120 travelers have stayed at one of the city’s three disease prevention hotels, and their 178 rooms are nearly
MISINFORMATION: The 100,000 masks given to ally Paraguay were bought in other Latin American nations, not made in Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan has not yet reached a point where it can export masks to diplomatic allies amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, dismissing as misinformation online reports that it gave away masks to curry favor with a diplomatic ally. “Taiwan provides med-ical aid to diplomatic allies based upon specific circumstances,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said, adding that the supplements donated by Taiwan were all purchased locally in allied countries, in accordance with their needs. “The time is not yet ripe” for Taiwan to export medical supplies, such as surgical masks, to diplomatic allies, until
RSS