Aboriginal lawmakers and representatives from Wufeng Township in Hsinchu County yesterday slammed the government for "passing the buck" and demanded that it repair the embankment around the Aboriginal village that was damaged by heavy rains and landslides last year.
"After examining the damaged area, the Public Construction Commission at the Executive Yuan promised to find out who is responsible by May," said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Kung Wen-chi (孔文吉) yesterday. "However, we've got no response ... all were seeing is the government avoid taking responsibility."
According to Kung, the Shangping river embankment around the Chingcyuan hot springs in Taoshan was damaged during last year's typhoon season.
The embankment is in need of immediate repair for the safety of the residents in the area, but the government has responded to the problem with empty promises, the lawmaker said.
In an attempt to trace the responsibility of the repair work, Kung held a press conference yesterday and invited representatives from the central government and Wufeng township to discuss the issue.
Township representative Yeh Hsien-ming (葉賢民) said he was worried about the safety of the tribespeople in the face of this year's fast-approaching typhoon season.
"With the damage of the embankment, houses and other buildings will likely be flooded if another big typhoon hits the area. Also, the roads are too fragile for farmers to transports their produce to market," said Yeh, whose house was damaged during one of last year's storms.
"This is a life-or-death issue for the tribe and it should be solved immediately. But the government told us that there is currently no money available to repair the embankment," Yeh said.
In response to the criticism, officials from the Public Construction Committee, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC), the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Economic Affairs all denied they were responsible for the repairing the embankment.
"The river's embankment belongs to the Chingcyuan hot spring scenic area, which is classified as a scenic area. Our duty is to set up construction plans to boost local tourism, not dredge a river," said Ma Whei-da (馬惠達), technical division chief of the Tourism Bureau at the MOTC, denying the ministry had any responsibility to make repairs.
Wang Hsing-long (王幸隆), Deputy Director-General of the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau at the Council of Agriculture also dismissed the suggestion that his department was responsible.
"Although river conservation should be the bureau's responsibility, the hot spring area is defined as a scenic area, and therefore is not under the bureau's jurisdiction," Wang said.
Lee Hsian-chang (李顯掌), a technician at the Public Construction Committee, explained that the authority to delimit a scenic area belongs to the urban planning commission -- a county-level government body.
"So in this case, the [Hsinchu] Soil and Water Conservation Bureau, which would be responsible for the river repair work were it not a scenic area, needs to consult the Hsinchu County Government regarding any construction or repair plans," he said.
Asked to explain why meetings were not held to solve the problem, Lee blamed the Hsinchu County Government for not providing information.
"Once the county government gives us the appropriate documents, we will hold a meeting immediately to discuss possible solutions to the problem," Lee said.
The promise, however, did not ease the worries of local residents.
"The river is very close to our houses and the Taoshan Elementary School. If landslides or floods hit us again, we don't know where we will run or how to rebuild our community," said township chief Chang Lan-guo (張蘭國).
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