Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) and Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) reached a consensus at a meeting yesterday on the establishment of a database that clearly lists underground pipelines carrying hazardous materials through the city’s densely populated districts, but added that the question of a special petrochemical zone — which the Executive Yuan has been said to be mulling — was not mentioned during the discussion.
The consensus between Chen and Jiang included plans for a digital database of all the city’s underground pipelines and improvements to equipment and the expertise of industry professionals, the mayor said.
Before the meeting, Chen thanked the nation and the central government for their strong support in the post-disaster cleanup and restoration work, while Jiang complimented the city government on its relief efforts.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Chen said the petrochemical industry and the pipelines conveying petrochemical materials have long been the city’s “small pathos.”
After the meeting, she said that while the pipelines should be moved from residential neighborhoods within a certain period of time, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said such work would require further discussion.
Executive Yuan spokesperson Sun Lih-chyun (孫立群) said that information about the city’s pipelines, including those said to be of national security concern, would be transparent and it would be up to the city government to decide whether the information should be open to the public.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
A halt to operations of the fifth naphtha cracker, as the government had promised when the plant was built, was also agreed upon.
“As it has nowhere to go, it will be closed down,” Sun said.
The topic of a special petrochemical zone upheld as a solution to the city’s concern about the petrochemical industry was not discussed during the meeting, as “at this stage we would like to concentrate on restoration,” Chen said.
When asked to comment on a proposed referendum — championed by the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) — on a special petrochemical zone for the city, Chen said it is “one option.”
TSU Legislator Yeh Chin-ling (葉津鈴) and two Kaohsiung city councilor candidates who will be running for office in districts where petrochemical activities are commonplace called for a referendum on a special petrochemical zone yesterday morning, protesting over Minister of Economic Affairs Woody Duh’s (杜紫軍) remarks intimating the absolute necessity of the petrochemical industry in the city as it “accounts for one-fourth of Kaohsiung’s GDP and is directly linked to 15,000 jobs.”
“What the city needs is a transformation from focusing on highly polluting, highly hazardous and highly energy-consuming industries to one benefiting from the cultural and travel industries,” Yeh said, adding that an airport capable of receiving 747 cargo planes is important.
Yeh and the councilors said they would launch a cross-party campaign to petition for a local referendum to be held with the year-end elections.
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