Questioning the legitimacy of a Taoyuan County plan to take over their land as the Taoyuan Aerotropolis project is yet to be finalized, residents from Dayuan Township (大園) yesterday requested that the Control Yuan launch a probe into the development project.
“The detailed planning of the Taoyuan Aerotropolis project will not start for another nine years, so I don’t understand why the government is hurrying to take over our land and houses,” Chan Chiu-hsiung (詹秋雄), the chairman of the Taoyuan Aerotropolis Victims’ Self-Help Association, told a brief press conference held outside the Control Yuan building in Taipei before going inside the make the petition.
The project would require more than 6,000 hectares of land, affecting nearly 20,000 residents.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
In its initial phase, which involves expanding Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and the addition of a third highway, the project would require the seizure of 114 hectares of land and forced eviction of 9,000 people.
It is not the first time Chan has faced land expropriation. To make room for the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, about 1 hectare of farmland and nine houses belonging to Chan’s family were expropriated 40 years ago.
Liu Pi-chieh (劉丕傑), another resident, questioned whether it is necessary to seize land before a detailed plan is released.
Taiwan Rural Front researcher Hsu Po-jen (許博任) said relevant government authorities have only started to study prospective industries to run in the Taoyuan Aerotropolis project this year.
“Apparently the government is not sure what they are going to do with the project yet,” Hsu said.
He said the Ministry of Transportation and Communications has proposed three plans for airport expansion.
“While all three plans could satisfy the need, and Plan A has the least impact on residents in the surrounding area, the Civil Aeronautics Aviation [CAA] somehow chose Plan C, which has the biggest impact on the residents,” Hsu said. “This is in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act [行政程序法], which stipulates that any move by the government should be done in a way that has the least impact on the people.”
An executive secretary of Taiwan Association for Human Rights, Wang Pao-hsuan (王寶萱), said the residents and their supporters have therefore come to the Control Yuan to ask it to probe “why the CAA decided to pick Plan C instead of Plan A or Plan B.”
The petition was accepted by Control Yuan member Huang Huang-hsiung (黃煌雄), who agreed to look into the case.
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
RSS