People living near Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday accused the government of rushing the review process for the Taoyuan Aerotropolis project, which they said was ill-conceived and had not incorporated any suggestions from civic groups.
The project covers an area of 6,859 hectares, of which 3,073 hectares are to be expropriated from private land owners.
The Taoyuan Aerotropolis Self-Help Association yesterday again questioned the necessity and public benefit of the forced expropriation plan, and called on lawmakers to freeze the project’s budget in today’s legislative session.
At a joint press conference in Taipei, Taipei National University of the Arts assistant professor Lu Wen-chung (呂文忠) showed a photograph taken by a surveillance camera of his late father, Lu A-yun (呂阿雲) — an 83-year-old farmer who killed himself by drinking pesticide on Nov. 9 — and said his father committed suicide because he could not bear the thought of being forced to leave his land and property.
Taiwan Rural Front spokesperson Tsai Pei-hui (蔡培慧) said that after the elderly farmer gave up his life to protest against the project, the Ministry of the Interior’s Construction and Planning Agency proceeded by holding 11 ad hoc specialist review meetings in 15 days — with very few committee members attending the meetings — as an apparent attempt to swiftly approve the project.
Questioning the necessity of expropriating their land when the aerotropolis’ new runway will not be designed and submitted for an environmental impact assessment until 2022, Taoyuan Educational Trade Union representative Peng Ju-yu (彭如玉) said that the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in 1999 expropriated 176 hectares of private land in Taoyuan’s Dayuan Township (大園) for the Taoyuan Air Services Zone program, but the planned park area is still deserted.
“A wrong investment may be worse than corruption,” Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) said at the press conference, urging her colleagues at the legislature to freeze funding for the project until the government can clarify questions about its public benefits and necessity.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
An inauguration ceremony was held yesterday for the Danjiang Bridge, the world’s longest single-mast asymmetric cable-stayed bridge, ahead of its official opening to traffic on Tuesday, marking a major milestone after nearly three decades of planning and construction. At the ceremony in New Taipei City attended by President William Lai (賴清德), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), the bridge was hailed as both an engineering landmark and a long-awaited regional transport link connecting Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里)
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