Losheng Sanatorium preservationists and residents yesterday urged the government to respond to a corrective measure proposed by the Control Yuan and find another site for the MRT maintenance depot now under construction on the sanatorium’s campus.
“Defend justice for Losheng, resettle the Sinjhuang maintenance depot,” they chanted as they demonstrated outside the Executive Yuan.
“The conclusion that the Control Yuan came up with after an investigation supports what preservationists and Losheng residents have been saying all these years,” said Wang Wei-min (王偉民), a civil engineer and long-time supporter of the Losheng preservation movement.
Wang has long warned that the hill on which Losheng Sanatorium is located is not suitable for construction of an MRT maintenance depot.
“As the Control Yuan investigation found that both the site selected and the construction method being used are wrong, the Department of Rapid Transit Systems [DORTS] should stop it right away,” Wang said. “Otherwise, no one knows if there will be another chance for it to amend the situation when more serious problems occur.”
Losheng Sanatorium was completed in the 1930s on a hill in Sinjhuang District (新莊), New Taipei City (新北市), to isolate people with leprosy, since it was believed to be a contagious and incurable disease at the time.
A DORTS project to flatten the sanatorium campus to make way for an MRT maintenance depot met with strong opposition. Some opposed the construction because they believed the sanatorium should be kept as an historic site, while others said the geological conditions of the hill are not suitable for such a large construction project.
Despite the opposition, the Executive Yuan’s Public Construction Commission decided in May 2008 to preserve only a part of the sanatorium complex, while demolishing most of it.
As landslides occurred as construction went on, the DORTS was forced to suspend work and promised that construction would not resume until a more stable, long-term construction method was found.
However, landslides continued even when construction stopped and cracks have appeared on the walls of the remaining buildings.
Earlier this month, the Control Yuan concluded its investigation by proposing corrective measures and said the selection of the project site and the construction measures were both wrong.
Although the Control Yuan Act (監察法) requires the executive branch of government to respond to a corrective measure proposal by making changes and submitting a written report to the Control Yuan, the executive branch has yet to do so. The DORTS only thanked the Control Yuan for its concerns and said it would complete the project as planned.
“The DORTS and the Taipei City Government should come up with another plan to correct its mistakes before it’s too late,” said Tsai Ya-ying (蔡雅瀅), a lawyer affiliated with the Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association. “Otherwise, it would be a disaster if a large-scale landslide occurs when the maintenance depot is completed and the MRT line starts operating.
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