Environmental protection activists yesterday called on Penghu County Commissioner Chen Guang-fu (陳光復) to suspend construction of the Dacang Cultural Park (大倉文化園區) — a tourist attraction dedicated to Taoist deity Matsu (媽祖) and featuring a 66m high bronze statue — saying the project was commenced forcibly without undergoing due administrative procedure and that the amount of marine traffic it is expected to bring would endanger dozens of coral species in the island’s neighboring waters.
The statue, which overlooks the Chungguang Harbor (崇光港), stands 48m tall and is attached to an 18m base that functions as an exhibition hall and a theater, Penghu Ocean Citizen Foundation founder and Dacang local Wu Shuang-tse (吳雙澤) said.
Since its groundbreaking in 2013, the structure has cost the county about NT$550 million (US$17.46 million), he said.
He said the project — under a build-operate-transfer system — proposed and started by former Penghu commissioner Wan Cian-fa’s (王乾發) administration in a bid to promote tourism, covered a 6.5-hectare area which, under the Environmental Impact Assessment Act (環境影響評估法), should have undergone an environmental impact assessment, but Chiuhao Construction Co, the original project owner, filed it as two projects by segmenting off an area where a hotel complex had been proposed, reducing the scope of the project to 4.9 hectares, and eluding an assessment.
He said that Wang and his team had not carried out any viability assessments before proposing the project, as Wang’s team expected to raise NT$300 million for the park from the private sector, but ended up obtaining just NT$5 million.
Not including a NT$50 million grant issued by the central government for a landscape engineering project, Wu said that an estimated NT$800 million to NT$1 billion is required to finish construction and procure the equipment needed for the park to become operational.
“With the Penghu County Government already burdened with more than NT$2 billion in debt, how can Penghu afford to pay such a large sum?” he asked.
Moreover, the cultural park would take up one-third of the living space on Dacang Island, which is 18 hectares, he added.
The facility would also be at odds with Dacang locals’ religious beliefs, as the vast majority of locals worship Taoist deity the Revered Narcissus King, he said, accusing Wang of disrespecting public opinion by pushing the project forward without holding any public hearings.
He suggested relocating the statue to Penghu’s Magong City, where Matsu is the predominantly worshiped deity.
The project also poses a grave threat to the environment in the waters off the Dacang Island, an area known as the “greater inland sea,” which is home to dozens of coral species and ideal for a range of activities, including snorkeling, canoeing, sailing and windsurfing, he said.
“The environment of the greater inland sea makes the area unfit for the development of tourism, because corals are extremely sensitive. Any fuel leaked from ferryboats, or earthworks washed into the sea as a result of construction, risks destroying the ecosystem,” he said.
“I am sure that Dacang’s beauty can emulate that of Sun Moon Lake [in Nantou County]. Commissioner Chen should streamline efforts between the private and public sectors to build it into an eco village,” Wu said.
An online petition launched by the foundation last week demanding that construction of the park be suspended had gathered more than 1,800 signatures as of yesterday.
Democratic Progressive Party Penghu County Councilor Chen Hui-ling (陳慧琳) urged Chen Guang-fu to deliberate on whether the cultural park would bring the economic benefits touted by Wang, saying that the public’s opinion was against the project.
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