Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday postponed the government’s plan to demolish the No. 202 Artillery and Ammunition Plant, a demolition that was originally scheduled for June 1.
The site, located in Taipei City’s Nangang (南港) district, will remain untouched pending an environmental impact assessment of Academia Sinica’s plan to develop the area into a biotech research park, to be conducted by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), Wu said.
The assessment is expected to take about six months to complete.
The No. 202 facility recently hit the headlines after essayist Chang Hsiao-feng (張曉風) urged President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to reconsider the plan, dubbing the 185 hectare site “Taipei’s last plot of green land.”
According to Armament Bureau Director Liu Fu-long (劉復龍), the planned biotech park would occupy just 9.6 hectares of the site
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) yesterday urged the central government to consider using Kaohsiung’s No. 205 Munitions Works as an alternative location for the planned biotech park because it would be less controversial.
The No. 205 Munitions Works — a former military zone of about 75 hectares — is located in the city’s Cianjhen District (前鎮) near Kaohsiung International Airport.
Chen said the city would make a perfect location for the park given the progress it has made in recent years.
Back in Taipei, Executive Yuan Spokesperson Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) quoted Academia Sinica President Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠) as saying after a meeting with Wu and EPA Deputy Minister Chiu Wen-yen (邱文彥) that he remains firmly behind the plan to build a biotech park on the No. 202 site.
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