Land rights campaigners and others opposed to forced evictions have threatened to launch a major protest if the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) fails to reduce the amount of land that is to be expropriated for the Taoyuan Aerotropolis Project.
About 3,000 hectares are to expropriated for the project, one of the landmark policies proposed by former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration.
The project has been questioned by Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), who accused his predecessor, John Wu (吳志揚), of using the project to inflate property prices near Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
Photo: CNA
Cheng promised more transparency for the project when he ran for election.
The ministry has held three administrative hearings since May to allow local residents to voice their thoughts on the project, and several people asked for the amount of land to be expropriated to be reduced.
Campaigner Tien Kei-fung (田奇?) said that the agency planning to expropriate the land should adjust the project after the hearings in line with the complaints raised at the hearings.
However, the transportation ministry did not make any of the suggested changes and submitted its original plan to the Ministry of the Interior.
Yang Pin-wen (楊品妏), an Environmental Jurists Association specialist, said that the rules governing the administrative hearings that the interior ministry issued this month stipulate that the hearing should identify controversies and consensus, but the transportation ministry’s hearings failed to meet those standards.
The transportation ministry is simply using the hearings to protect itself, which is despicable, she said.
Luzhu District resident Lu Li-kuen (呂理坤) said that his borough lies at the edge of the designated area for the Aerotropolis project and is scheduled to be expropriated for building of the airport’s third runway.
The transportation ministry should not have to expropriate land in his borough because it can use a nearby naval base, which has 400 to 500 hectares, he said.
Lu said he wanted to know if the naval base was scheduled to be developed for commercial purposes and if that was why the government wants to expropriate property from private citizens for the Aerotropolis Project.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS