The Greater Taichung Government has been accused by environmental groups of pursuing a cable-car project for the sole benefit of certain construction companies, endangering human life and the destroying the environment.
When complete, the project would link the Guguan region (谷關) to Dasyueshan National Forest Recreation Area (大雪山) by running a cable car over the summit of Pochinchia Mountain (波津加).
At 5,790m, the project would be the longest cable-car route ever, according to former Greater Taichung deputy mayor Hsiao Chia-chi (蕭家淇).
Hsiao added that a one-way trip would take an estimated 18 minutes, 52 seconds.
However, Green Formosa Front standing director Lin Chang-mao (林長茂) said that the area is unstable and highly prone to landslides.
Some of the 11 tower bases holding the cable lines in place have been placed near spots of evident headward erosion, Lin said, referring to a type of erosion that lengthens a stream, valley or gully at its origin and also enlarges its drainage basin due to the stream flow.
Lin questioned how the government planned on performing rescues in the tight, narrow mountain paths in the event of a landslide.
Environmental advocate Lin Tzu-ling (林子凌) said the government’s own assessment report indicated clear understanding of the project’s negative impact on the environment and that therefore the government was being highly irresponsible.
Lin said the assessment report stated: “Geological structure is extremely fragile after the earthquake and typhoons in the area, which is littered with loose earth and rocks. In addition, this is a high-altitude area and surrounded by sites of previous landslides that await restoration efforts. The area’s environment would be affected if the cable car stations were built.”
The earthquake and typhoon mentioned were the Sept. 21, 1999, earthquake and typhoon Mindulle in 2004.
There would also be a greater chance of lightning strikes at high altitude and mountain fogs also pose a natural danger to construction, Lin said.
The Greater Taichung Government suffered a credibility hit in outsourcing construction on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis, but at the time, it promised developers that they would be offered chances to build subsidiary facilities, Lin said.
According to the Act for the Promotion of Private Participation in Infrastructure Projects (促進民間參與公共建設法), subsidiary facilities include retail shops, department stores, restaurants and other facilities.
Other environmental protection groups said that the construction and potential crowds it could draw would seriously affect the habitat of wildlife in the area.
The area is home to the endangered Formosan black bear and a wide variety of bird life, the groups said, adding that the project would encroach on natural ecosystems.
In response, head of the city government’s construction division, Liu Lai-wang (劉來旺), said the government has taken all necessary precautions and that the worries raised were unsubstantiated.
“The government has avoided all the geologically sensitive locations and we have entered an agreement with companies to hire locally,” Liu said.
The agreement for companies to build subsidiary facilities was a ploy to increase investment incentives and would not impact on how the recreation area is run, the government’s spokesman added.
Regarding lightning strikes, Li said that according to Taiwan Power Co’s (Taipower, 台電) statistics, Guguan receives about 67 strikes a year, while Taipei’s Maokong (貓空), where a cable-car system has been set up, gets about five times more.
“We have the highest safety standards for Guguan cable cars, with comprehensive plans for rescues,” Liu said, adding that the cars would stop moving when hit by gusts of winds faster than 16m per second.
Saying that cable cars have often been employed by European countries to stimulate tourism, Guguan Communal Development Association honorary chairman Liu Chia-chih (劉家熾) added that the altitudes in Guguan would only make cable cars more attractive.
Additional reporting by Chang Ching-ya, Wu Po-hsuan and Chang Jui-chen
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
RSS