Mon, Mar 26, 2001 page3

• Embankments in Penghu overtaking the coastline

  • By Jou Ying-cheng / STAFF REPORTER
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  In the argument over legalizing gambling on Penghu, what seems to be indisputable is that the archipelagic county should develop its tourism industry by promoting its renowned natural beauty, especially its varied coastal scenery.

  But there is a huge controversy surrounding Penghu's coastlines. Environmentalists are concerned that concrete structures are replacing the islands' natural coastlines.

  "Ports, embankments, roads and breakwater blocks are besieging the island," Lin Chang-hsing (林長興), a high school teacher and chairman of the Penghu Environmental Protection Society (澎湖縣環境保護協會), said. Lin said the concrete structures have seriously damaged the tidal zones of Penghu.

  

  Activists claim that Penghu's sea embankments, such as this one in Shakang village, are built for political rather than environmental reasons.

  PHOTO: JOU YING-CHENG, TAIPEI TIMES

  For decades, the government has been keen on building fishing ports in Penghu in an effort to develop the local fishing industry. According to Penghu County's Construction Bureau, there are 67 ports in 97-village Penghu.

  "Some villages that are joined together and could have shared one port have their respective ports, while some villages have more than one port. Plus, there are actually few boats in the ports," he said. "Many ports are just unnecessary."

  Also located around the Penghu islands are embankments and land reclaimed from the sea.

  Along the coast of Chungsi (中西) village, for example, lies a several hundred meter long embankment. The land adjacent to the embankment, a strip also several hundred meters long and tens of meters wide, was a large illegal waste dump.

  "The waste dump site used to be a tidal zone," said Chen Hsiang-yu (陳香育), an active member of the Penghu Environmental Protection Society.

  Embankments on tidal zones are not only meant to prevent land erosion by the sea but also create places for the soil dug out for ports to be relocated.

  "But is this really necessary?" Chen asked rhetorically.

  "Claiming it was protecting the life and property of its citizens, the government built the embankments," he said. "But look, behind many embankments there are wastelands where no one lives. What's the point in spending money and sacrificing the ecosystem of the tidal zone to protect these places?"

  Lin said a reason for the proliferation of ports and embankments was that politicians could benefit from these projects.

  He said that without evidence he could not say if some took kickbacks. "However," he said, "with these projects politicians could claim that they're doing something, because to the public these endeavors are highly visible, even though they are in fact useless."

  Funds for the projects came from central or provincial governments. Lin said when People First Party chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) served as Taiwan Provincial Governor, the construction of ports and embankments peaked.

  The media reported last year that the total length of embankments in Penghu measured 43km -- over one eighth of the length of Penghu's 326km coastlines.

  A businessman involved in construction, who declined to be named, explained why embankments that seem unnecessary are so prevalent around Penghu.

  "They are simple and monotonous. Building embankments is a convenient way for politicians to boast about their achievements, convenient for officials who undertake the projects, and convenient for corrupt politicians and for businesspeople to make illegal profits through bid rigging," he said.

  He and Lin both said that most people are silent and unaware of the harm these ubiquitous embankments cause to the environment.

  Lin Yaw-ken (林耀根), director of the county's construction bureau, acknowledged that the ports and embankments in Penghu are indeed excessive. But he declined to comment on the government's past practices.

  He agreed that building some fishing ports and embankments might have caused a change in the sea current which has led to the erosion of the seashore, but said that this in turn necessitates the construction of more embankments.

  "Damage has been caused," he said. "What we need to do now is to keep the damage to a minimum."

  He also said that breakwater blocks are now preferred over embankments where land erosion is a problem because they have less of an impact on the environment.

  He said that if the government did nothing, land erosion along the coast would escalate.

  He added that the government would continue to confer with environmentalists before undertaking new projects.
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