Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday told Hualien County residents not to make the journey to Taipei during the current bad weather to protest their appeal that “Hualien needs a safe road home,” adding that he would instead travel to Hualien to meet them and address their grievances.
Wu made the remarks at the weekly Cabinet meeting after Hualien County Commissioner Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁) said he was planning to mobilize more than 10,000 Hualien residents to stage a protest in Taipei on Monday to have their appeal for a safe road heard.
It has been estimated that the more than 80-year-old highway, the only road connecting Yilan and Hualien, has witnessed more than 10,000 traffic accidents, with a death toll of more than 1,000 in the last decade.
PHOTO: HUANG LI-HSIANG, TAIPEI TIMES
The safety of the road came under the spotlight again following the latest tragedy on Thursday last week when heavy rains brought by Typhoon Megi triggered landslides along the highway. The incident killed three people, with 24, including 20 Chinese tourists, still missing.
In a bid to demand that the central government speed up a project to upgrade the Suhua Highway, Fu plans to lead Hualien residents on a demonstration in Taipei on Monday morning in front of the Presidential Office.
“Premier Wu is welcome to visit Hualien to explain the project, but our plan remains unchanged,” Fu said yesterday.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lai Kun-cheng (賴坤成), who represents Taitung County, said he would also mobilize residents from his constituency to join the protest.
The proposal to improve the highway with NT$46.5 billion (US$1.51 billion) to be spent on fortification work on adjacent land and the construction of tunnels to bypass several hazardous sections is expected to start at the end of this year and be completed by 2016.
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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