With the Cabinet to decide next week whether to rebuild the section of the Central Cross-Island Highway between Kukuan and Techi, local politicians and environmental groups yesterday disagreed over the fate of the fragile link road.
The highway segment was about to be reopened early last month when Tropical Storm Mindulle hit the nation, crippling the road once more with falling rocks, landslides and mudflows.
During a Council for Economic Planning and Development hearing broadcast live on TV yesterday, Taichung County Commissioner Huang Chung-sheng (
"If it's not fixed, we estimate that transportation costs from fruit and vegetable farms in Lishan will increase by NT$300 million a year," Huang said.
He said that agriculture in the town was worth more than NT$6.4 billion a year, or 40 percent of the county's agricultural output.
A closed road would also continue to cause tremendous inconvenience to those Aborigines who commute from mountainous areas to the plains, Huang said.
Indigenous people make up 34 percent of the population of Hoping township, one of the areas hardest hit by Mindulle. About 20,000 Abo- riginal people have already relocated elsewhere in the county.
Huang said that in addition to dredging rivers, the government should consider building tunnels or bridges instead of reconstructing road segments perched along steep slopes. He said officials also had to ensure that land and water resources were protected.
Huang was supported by Lin Rong-jin (
"Some government officials have jumped to the conclusion that there's no point to fixing roads damaged by Mindulle, even before inspecting the disaster zone to see the situation for themselves," he said.
Lin was referring to Council for Economic Planning and Development Vice Chairman Chang Ching-sen (
A team of geologists will report to the Cabinet on whether the highway does indeed affect such locations, but Chang said that the answer was already evident after looking at satellite photos.
Premier Yu Shyi-kun has instructed an ad hoc task force to recommend whether or not to rebuild the segment of the highway within the week.
Chung Ting-mao (鍾丁茂), a spokesman for the Taichung chapter of the Homemakers' Union and Foundation, said that the reconstruction would be a waste of money.
"The government has spent about NT$1.3 billion repairing roads since the 921 earthquake in 1999. It's estimated that the damage caused by Mindulle may cost an additional NT$6 billion," Chung said. "Why do we spend so much taxpayer money to repair a road located in such a geologically sensitive area that suffers damage even after ordinary rainfall?"
Chang Feng-nan (張豐年), a doctor and a board member of the Caring Nature Association in Tai-chung City, called on the Cabinet to stop fixing damaged segments of the highway as well as hydro-electric plants built along the highway that were damaged by Mindulle. He also proposed that the Techi Reservoir, which he said was in danger of collapse following the devastating earthquake four years ago, be demolished.
"While most of the people who I see in my practice are opposed to the idea of reconstructing damaged segments of the highway, local politicians are voicing exactly the opposite opinion," Chang said. "I'm curious to know whether they don't realize the severity of the problem or if they're just trying to manipulate public opinion."
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