After Typhoon Xangsane caused severe flooding along the Keelung River, Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (
The premier also said that too much construction had been done in the Hsichih (
PHOTO: LEE HUNG-MING, LIBERTY TIMES
"[The Cabinet] will review the situation and propose a ban on housing projects in areas that are undeveloped in Hsichih," Chang said at a press conference yesterday morning, adding that related government agencies would work out the details of regulations in the future.
Chang, however, did not specify which areas in Hsichih would be targeted in the plan.
Flooding islandwide killed at least 53 people as of yesterday. The victims included 14 elderly people who drowned in a flooded ground-floor nursing home in Keelung and 15 Taoist devotees who died when water inundated their worship site in a basement in the same area, according to the National Fire Administration (NFA,
Hsieh Shyh-jye (謝世傑), director of the 10th river basin management bureau at the Water Conservancy Agency (水利處第十局) told the Taipei Times yesterday that Chang has asked that a river reclamation project, first proposed in 1999, be started.
The project aims to dredge sections of the Keelung River and alter its course in certain areas. Chang has asked for NT$7 billion to fund the estimated four-year Yuanshan flood-diversion project.
Hsieh said that "an estimated one-third of the river's upstream overflow could be diverted after completion of the project."
Expressing his sorrow over the 29 deaths in Keelung, Chang urged the NFA to fully review emergency measures taken during the flooding and to give a report assigning responsibility.
Chang said that flood levels had reached the mark where alerts should have been sounded, but wondered why nothing was done until the situation was out of control.
In the afternoon yesterday, Chang joined President Chen Shui-bian (
Chang said that he was putting Vice Premier Lai In-jaw (
As for subsidies to flood victims, Chang said that he had instructed the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to begin distribution of aid according to regulations.
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