About 20 Keelung City residents yesterday called on the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) to immediately halt work on the Keefu Highway (基福公路) and submit the project for evaluation by the Environmental Protection Administration’s (EPA) environmental impact assessment committee.
After protesting in front of the ministry, the group said in a statement that the construction of the highway connecting Nuannuan (暖暖) near Keelung and Fulong (福隆) in Taipei County was approved by the Executive Yuan in 1991 — three years before the Legislative Yuan passed the Environmental Impact Assessment Act (環境影響評估法).
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
EXEMPTION
As a result, the project was exempt from review by the EPA’s environmental impact assessment committee.
Work was delayed for a number of reasons. First, the contractor went bankrupt, then a landslide occurred in a tunnel connecting Nuannuan and Pingsi (平溪). There has also been much local opposition to the highway.
“We have written to the MOTC on several occasions and not once received a response from them,” said Wang Hsing-chih (王醒之), leader of the protest.
DIP SLOPES
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) appeared at the demonstration, displaying maps provided by the Central Geological Survey under the Ministry of Economic Affairs. These show that the highway passes through dip slopes and four mudflow alert zones identified following Typhoon Nari in 2001.
BUDGET FREEZE
“Even through the project was approved before the Environmental Impact Assessment Act was passed, Article 28 of that act says that the EPA can still ask those in charge to analyze the impact of construction work on the environment,” Tien said, adding that she was considering launching a bipartisan effort to freeze the budget for the highway.
Protesters also questioned the professionalism of MOTC officials, claiming that their shortsightedness can cost lives, a reference to a deadly landslide that occurred on the Formosa Freeway about a week ago.
Lan Wei-gong (藍維恭), chief of the MOTC’s construction section, said that when complete the highway will be promoted as a “tourism highway,” adding that its construction will have only minimal impact on the environment.
The Keelung City Council last month passed a resolution demanding Keelung City Government halt work on the highway project immediately.
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