Environmentalists yesterday appealed to the Ministry of the Interior to tear down a resort in Taitung County, saying the local government had refused to do so despite two court rulings revoking the results of an environmental impact assessment (EIA) and a construction permit for the hotel.
“The controversy surrounding Miramar Resort Village can be concluded in two sentences: ‘It should not have been built in the first place. It should be torn down,’” Citizen of the Earth Taiwan chairman Liao Pen-chuan (廖本全) told a press conference.
He said the beach on which the resort is standing was first designated a “general protected area” in the 1980s by the ministry and was reclassified with the more restrictive label of “coastal natural protected area” a few years ago.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
“I would like to ask the ministry who is protected in the coastal natural protected area? Is it the coast, or the interests of corporates?” Liao asked. “If the local government is unwilling to tear down the illegal building, the ministry should take over the job.”
The Supreme Administrative Court in Kaohsiung revoked Miramar Resort’s EIA in January and its construction permit earlier this month, said Toby Tsai (蔡中岳), manager of Citizens of the Earth Taiwan’s Eastern Taiwan Office.
“According to the Environmental Impact Assessment Act (環境影響評估法), a construction permit can only be issued for a construction project after it passes an EIA, and so, even without the court ruling earlier this month, the construction permit should have been revoked,” Tsai said.
When the court revoked the EIA, the Taitung County Government argued that the construction permit was still valid, since it was issued before the EIA was revoked.
However, when the court ruled that the construction permit was invalid, the county government said the resort had applied for a new EIA and that it would wait to see if the resort fails to pass the EIA before deciding whether to demolish the hotel.
Istanda Hosunyan Nabu, an Amis musician from Taitung, looked at the issue from a different angle.
“The county government never took the opinions of Amis Aborigines into consideration, although the resort is located within a traditional Amis domain,” he said. “It was quite ridiculous when Taitung County Commissioner Justin Huang (黃健庭) said the Amis have long ‘occupied’ the land.”
“It is our land,” Nabu said. “We have been living there since before the Republic of China regime came to Taiwan.”
Hsieh Wei-sung (謝偉松), an official representing the ministry’s Construction and Planning Agency, said there were illegal elements involved in the construction of the resort, and it should be torn down.
“But it’s the local government which has the authority to demolish it,” he said.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS