The Pingtung County Government yesterday denied forcefully evicting people from their homes and demolishing their houses in a controversial project to widen Gongyong Road, at the rear exit of the rebuilt Pingtung Railway Station.
Pingtung County Councilor Chiang Yueh-hui (蔣月惠) was catapulted to national infamy after she bit one of the female police officers at the site on Monday during clashes with police officers in an attempt to halt the alleged enforced demolitions.
Chiang accused Pingtung County Commissioner Pan Men-an (潘孟安) of accepting bribes to expedite the demolition of people’s homes, an allegation Pan denied.
Photo: CNA
Pan’s Facebook page was flooded by netizens who demanded that the county government provide an explanation for the controversy, while others questioned whether it was another “Dapu incident.”
The Dapu incident refers to the Miaoli County Government seizing farmland to expand the Jhunan Science Park by blocking off roads and sending excavators into farms and demolishing four houses in Dapu Borough (大埔) in 2013.
Pingtung County Secretary-General Chiu Huang Chao-chung (邱黃肇崇) yesterday at a news conference said the work was being undertaken for an urban renewal project approved by the Executive Yuan in 2010.
The rebuilding of Pingtung Railway Station was done to accommodate plans to elevate the tracks between Pingtung City and Chaozhou Township (潮州), he said, adding that the projects called for the roads around the station to be at least 12m wide.
Pingtung County Government spokesman Huang Chien-chia (黃建嘉) said the county government had obtained the rights to ownership of the land and buildings around the station last year.
The county government has been in constant communication with residents since it announced plans to demolish the buildings in October 2015, he added.
Pingtung County Bureau of Public Construction Director Yang Ching-che (楊慶哲) said Monday’s demolitions were of residences owned by people who had agreed to the project and received compensation.
The funding for the project had been increased to NT$340 million (US$11.07 million) from NT$180 million due to the above-average prices offered to the 21 people whose land or properties had been expropriated, Huang said.
The county government would continue to negotiate with the remaining seven families on Gongyong Road who had not yet agreed to the demolitions, he said.
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