A great amount of construction waste from New Taipei City was illegally dumped on farmland in Taoyuan, two city councilors said yesterday, questioning whether the policy of monitoring trucks via the Global Positioning System (GPS) is useful.
A construction company registered in New Taipei City dumped tonnes of waste on farmland across the border of Taoyuan’s Dasi (大溪) and Pingjhen (平鎮) districts, Taoyuan city councilors Shu Tsui-ling (舒翠玲) and Yang Chao-wei (楊朝偉) said in the council’s question-and-answer session.
The area covered by the waste measures 3,600 ping (1.19 hectares), Shu said.
Local residents had reported that hundreds of trucks entered and left the neighborhood during the past week to dump waste, asking “How is it possible that the authorities did not see so many trucks?” she said.
The farmland, situated across the border of Dasi and Pingjhen, had become a gray zone that no one bothered to regulate, Yang said.
Taoyuan’s Department of Agriculture Director Guo Cheng-chuan (郭承泉) said the department had examined the farm and will ask the company to provide an explanation.
If the company failed to clean up the waste within a given timeframe it would face fines, he said.
Under the city’s Construction Earthwork Regulation Act (桃園市營建剩餘土石方管理自治條例), implemented earlier this year, the government can monitor the whereabouts of vehicles carrying construction waste through the use of GPS tracking devices, Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) said.
If a company failed to install a GPS system or deliberately turned it off, it would face fines, he said, adding that public servants could be prosecuted if they covered up a company’s illegal dumping activities.
The act stipulates that companies found in violation of the act could face a fine of up to NT$100,000.
However, Yang said the city should raise the maximum fine to keep companies from other municipalities from dumping their waste in Taoyuan.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all