The land to be expropriated for the Taoyuan Aerotropolis project has been reduced, but the project to build a third runway at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport remains unchanged, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said yesterday.
The government had planned to expropriate 3,200 hectares of land for the project, which would make it the largest land development case in the nation.
The CAA is in charge of expropriating land to further expand the airport — which is also called the “egg yolk” part of the project, while the Taoyuan City Government is in charge of acquiring land for the “egg white” part of the project — which refers to properties surrounding the airport owned by private residents or the city government.
According to a zoning development draft plan published yesterday by the Ministry of the Interior’s Urban and Rural Development Branch, the total land area to be expropriated would be reduced by approximately 127 hectares and properties spared are predominantly to the south of the airport.
“Some residents still oppose the idea of relocating for the project. Several buildings in the old navy base, south of Taoyuan airport, have been designated as historical sites,” CAA Airport Engineering Department Director Fan Hsiao-lun (范孝倫) said.
The CAA, the city government and the ministry re-evaluated the project and decided to reduce the total area by about 127 hectares, Fan added.
Based on the ministry’s draft plan, the CAA now needs to draft about 1,388 hectares, 92 hectares less than its previous plan.
Properties to be expropriated by the city government would be reduced by 35 hectares to 1,770 hectares.
Although the government has decided to reduce the scale of expropriation, Fan said it would not disrupt plans to expand the airport, particularly the building of a third runway and a satellite terminal on the northern part of the airport compound.
Land acquisition for the runway and terminal should commence in 2020 and construction is scheduled to be completed by 2025, Fan said.
The cost of land expropriation is estimated at about NT$150 billion, or NT$10 billion less than previous government proposals, Fan said.
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