Civic environmental group Citizens of the Earth, Taiwan (CET) yesterday said it suspects the motivation behind the Gaoping Great Lakes (高屏大湖) project might actually be real estate speculation, and urged the Environmental Protection Administration’s evaluation committee to reject the proposal tomorrow.
The Water Resources Agency’s Southern Region Water Resources Office plans to build five artificial lakes in a nearly 700-hectare area for cross-border water channeling and to save water in dry seasons, on the border of Pingtung County’s Ligang Township (里港) and Greater Kaohsiung’s Meinong District (美濃).
Although local farmers have protested against the project several times in previous years because it could destroy the area’s green soybean farms, an ad hoc Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) committee meeting in January proposed two options — allow the development of one lake first and then redo the assessments, or reject all development plans — for the EIA general assembly to decide.
The group yesterday said that according to data acquired from the Ministry of the Interior’s local branch, the government is planning to develop a new 4,349-hectare township near the project’s location and will reassign the farming zones into zones for recreation, housing and industrial use.
Holding a real estate flyer found near the project’s location that reads “Near the Gaoping Great Lakes, great location for land value increment,” CET researcher Frank Yang (楊俊朗) said the group suspects that the project’s true purpose is real-estate speculation, not solving water shortage problems in the area.
The land price stated on the flyer is about three times the average price three years ago, he added.
Yang said that although the first phase of the Gaoping Great Lakes’ project would reportedly save about 100,000 tonnes of water every day, the Water Resources Agency’s statistics showed that the tap water leakage rate in Greater Kaohsiung was 26 percent — or about 470,000 tonnes of water each day — in 2011.
“It is absurd that the government is choosing to spend NT$12 billion to develop the Gaoping Great Lakes project and save 100,000 tonnes of water each day, when data from the tap water department shows that 158,000 tonnes of water can be saved by spending NT$5.5 billion in improving water leakage problems,” he said.
The group urged the EIA general assembly to reject the project tomorrow, and suggested the government publicize the names of officials involved in the new township development plans, as well as further investigate the case.
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
RSS