A special team from the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday gave conditional approval to an improvement project for the Suhua Highway — the fastest assessment process of its kind in the nation’s history.
The team will now send the initial result to the Environmental Impact Assessment Review Committee for approval.
Environmental Protection Administration Vice Minister Yeh Jiunn-horng (葉俊宏) said the committee was likely to hold a meeting to discuss the initial results within three to five days.
PHOTO: NICKY LOH, REUTERS
The decision came as about 2,000 residents from Hualien County marched through Taipei demanding speedy improvements to the highway, which was damaged by landslides caused by Typhoon Megi last month, leaving 15 dead and 23 missing, including Chinese tourists.
“Why is it that Hualien’s most important highway, our only -lifeline, cannot be repaired after it was damaged,” Hualien County Commissioner Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁) said in an address ahead of the gathering.
The protesters were calling for a new freeway to be constructed or an upgrade to the existing highway to make the rocky east coast more accessible.
Hualien residents said the recent accidents were indicative of how dangerous the road has been in its 78-year history, while appealing for a “safe road home.”
Prior to the typhoon, highway authorities had proposed spending NT$48 billion (US$1.6 billion) on a eight-year project to upgrade the route. However, the proposal failed to get approval from the committee when it met for the first time last month, before the typhoon.
Environmental protection groups have asked the government to carefully consider the upgrade because it would entail building several long tunnels through an area prone to landslides.
“We’re open to discussion on the project, but we’re strongly opposed to the review of the project in a hasty manner,” Green Party Taiwan Secretary-General Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) said.
Earlier yesterday, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) promised protesters that the environmental impact review would have a favorable result “by the end of next month at the latest.”
During a meeting with Fu and Hualien residents at the Executive Yuan, Wu said he was “cautious, but optimistic” about the review.
“I can guarantee that [the construction plan] will not be axed as it was before once the plan passes the environmental impact review,” Wu said.
During the meeting, Fu was adamant that the central government should ensure a speedy resolution to the impasse.
“The current government should shoulder the responsibility [to build a safe road for Hualien residents to travel home],” he said.
Fu also urged the government to propose a clear timetable to open the alternative route and provide subsidies to local businesses to boost tourism in Hualien.
Wu said that although the alternative route would not begin full operations until 2016 as scheduled, the government did not rule out opening up the route earlier.
Wu said the Taiwan Railway Administration would continue to increase the number of trains bound for Hualien, while the government would initiate regular cross-strait charter flights between China and Hualien to make it more convenient for Chinese tourists to visit the region.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) said the government would close the roadway in the future if precipitation hits a certain level, adding that it had also decided to purchase 136 new “Taroko Express” trains — the fastest train traveling along the east coast — to make it easier to buy train tickets on the Taipei to Hualien route.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG AND AFP
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