Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) yesterday came under fire from an opposition lawmaker for not visiting people affected by the deadly gas explosions that rocked Greater Kaohsiung on July 31 and Aug. 1, despite spending the whole day in the city on three unrelated engagements.
Jiang has not answered two requests from residents in the area affected by the blasts: that state-owned CPC Corp, Taiwan, relocate its headquarters from Taipei to Kaohsiung to keep tax revenue it generates in the southern city and that the Cabinet launch an examination of the city’s drainage and pipeline infrastructure to ensure it is safe, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤) said yesterday.
However, Jiang did give “three presents” to Kaohsiung, Lee added.
Photo: Chang Chung-yi, Taipei Times
“First, when we were in immediate need of help, Jiang said he had a ‘three noes’ policy,” Lee said, referring to the Cabinet’s stances that “there is no need to enact a special law, allocate a budget or establish an ad hoc institution to handle the reconstruction work in Kaohsiung.”
“Second, Jiang proposed a special zone in Kaohsiung to house petrochemical plants without consulting residents, and that did not come with a plan to upgrade the industry,” Lee said.
“Third, he demanded that the Greater Kaohsiung Government make public its plans to use donations for disaster relief when it had already put the funds in a special account that is under supervision,” he added.
Jiang participated in the opening ceremony of this year’s AIESEC congress, a student-run world organization, in the municipality’s Dashu District (大樹), before visiting Fongshan District (鳳山) to inspect the construction of the Wei Wu Ying Center for the Arts and then to attend a forum with representatives of local business leaders.
Asked by reporters at the Wei Wu Ying center, 300m from Sanduo Road, one of the places most damaged by the blasts, why he did not include visits to the disaster area in his schedule, Jiang did not reply.
While addressing business leaders, Jiang said his schedule in Kaohsiung yesterday had been set one or two months ago.
Later yesterday, the Executive Yuan issued a press release saying that Jiang had also paid a visit to the 8th Army Corps in Zuoying District (左營) to convey appreciation to soldiers dispatched to the disaster area for relief and recovery work.
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