The Tourism Bureau yesterday decided to extend the bidding process of a development project on Chipei islet (吉貝嶼), Penghu County, in the face of pressure from conservationists and pro-environment legislators.
Yesterday morning, legislators and a dozen representatives from environmental groups protested in front of the bureau, saying the invitation of bids related to the development on Chipei islet violates the law.
At a two-hour meeting of high-ranking officials from the bureau, legislators said the development project should be suspended immediately.
"It's a miracle," DPP Legislator Eugene Jao (
According to the Penghu National Scenic Area Administration under the bureau, an impact-assessment report produced by an environmental-engineering company is almost complete. Next month, officials said, the report will be sent to the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) for approval.
Meanwhile, the administration has called for candidates for the project to file their bids by Sept. 18. The winning bid will be chosen by the end of November. The approved developer will have to follow the impact assessment to execute the project. The winner will be entitled to run the business on the islet for 50 years.
Jao argued that the administrative procedure was questionable because the assessment was not done by the developer itself.
"In addition, the assessment only examined a 4.4-hectare area of land rather than the whole area under threat from the development," Jao said.
According to the bureau's BOT (build-operate-transfer) bidding documents, the more than NT$300 million investment would turn 22 hectares of land and 210 hectares of surrounding sea into an international recreational tourist spot. Shopping malls, restaurants, a five-star hotel containing 350 rooms and parking lots would be established.
"If the BOT project on Chipei islet becomes a precedent, we can imagine that all state-owned land could be traded with big business easily," said Lai Wei-chieh (
Lai said that notorious BOT projects, including those on Green Island (
"The Chipei case even shows signs of simplified administrative procedures, which ensure the rights and interests of developers," Lai said.
Su Cherng-tyan (蘇成田), director general of the Tourism Bureau, said at the meeting that the time interval between the closure of the first stage of applications on Sept. 18 and the date designating an ideal developer would be prolonged.
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