The initiation of the second phase of the new Tamhai New Town (淡海新市鎮) development project in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Tamsui District (淡水) was blocked by the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) general assembly yesterday, until it passes a second, stricter review.
The project to create a town using 1,756 hectares of land north of central Tamsui to relocate 300,000 people from the overcrowded Taipei metropolitan area was first proposed by the Construction and Planning Agency in 1992.
The first phase of the project has been completed. The second and third stage plans were drawn up in 1995, but never implemented after the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) requested that both be submitted to two EIAs.
After many years of delays, the agency this year submitted another development project covering more than 1,100 hectares to an EIA under a new name, but which included zones that were designated for development under the original plan’s second phase.
Before the EIA general assembly meeting was held yesterday, dozens of people supporting and opposing the project gathered at the EPA to express their views.
Carrying soil, rice stems and seaweed from the area, representatives of a Tamsui self-help association said the project would destroy not only the area’s environment and ecology, but also its high-quality agricultural land and fishing sites. Cultural sites such as 100-year-old houses, aqueducts and ponds would also be destroyed, they added.
They said the first phase of the project was finished more than 20 years ago, but though it was designed to house 130,000 people, only 13,000 have moved — one-tenth of what was planned — so if the new project proposal is realized, it will likely only create another “ghost town.”
Members of the association are also concerned that more than 15,000 households would be forced to relocate if the project is approved.
“We don’t want to become the second Dapu Borough (大埔) of Taiwan,” association member Tsai Yin (蔡瀛) said.
In an effort to gain approval from the general assembly, the Construction and Planning Agency has amended the proposal to reduce the size of the development to 655 hectares, so it only includes the first zone of the original second phase area.
Supporters of the project, including city councilors and borough chiefs, said that the project could help develop the area economically and many residents have already waited more than 20 years for the development to be completed.
Taking into consideration the possible impacts that the project would have, the meeting’s committee members concluded that the proposal needs to undergo a second-phase EIA process to be reviewed more thoroughly.
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS