Kaohsiung residents and environmentalists yesterday protested a proposed freeway project ahead of its environmental review, saying the freeway would be situated on an active fault line and demanding that the review be halted until a complete geological survey has been completed.
Protesters gathered in front of the Environmental Protection Administration building in Taipei to oppose the Freeway No. 7 project, a 23km section connecting the city’s Siaogang (小港), Daliao (大寮) and Renwu (仁武) districts, designed to divert rising traffic volume surrounding the Port of Kaohsiung.
They said that although the freeway would be situated in a geologically unstable area, geological surveys have not been undertaken, despite repeated demands, while there have also been procedural flaws in the review process.
Photo: Chen Ping-hung, Taipei Times
Chien Chih-Chiang (簡志強), director of a self-help group, said the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, which is proposing the project, has not completed a geological survey or proposed response measures to soil solidification, but instead has issued a document claiming an assessment would be conducted.
“The Cishan (旗山) fault is an active fault system and the Legislative Yuan has requested that [the authorities] conduct surveys in the area. We demand that the project’s review be halted until the Central Geological Survey completes its research,” Chien said.
The Environmental Impact Assessment Act (環境影響評估法) states that practical alternatives to a proposed project should be reviewed by an environmental impact assessment committee to determine whether the proposed project is the optimal choice, but the ministry, in a project plan submitted for yesterday’s review, had rejected two alternatives proposed in earlier reviews, Taiwan Water Resources Protection Union spokesperson Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) said.
The two alternatives included construction at Guangming Road (光明路) in Daliao and the other to the west of the Gaoping River (高屏溪), but the ministry said the two alternatives were dramatically different from the freeway project and should be treated as new project proposals, refusing to consider them viable alternatives.
In the project plan, the ministry states that the review committee has already finished discussions concerning the topography, geology and soil structure, but the environmental groups disputed that and asked the administration to release audio recordings of the alleged discussions.
Review committee member Lee Yu-ming (李育明) said the discussions on topography, geology and soil structure are still ongoing.
Environmental groups paralyzed the review process using a series of procedural strategies and the meeting was later suspended with no outcome agreed.
Taiwan yesterday expelled four China Coast Guard vessels that entered Taiwan-controlled restricted waters off Lienchiang County (Matsu) shortly after the Chinese People’s Liberation Army announced the start of its “Joint Sword-2024B” drills around Taiwan. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a statement that it had detected two China Coast Guard ships west of Nangan Island (南竿) and another two north of Dongyin Island (東引) at 8am yesterday. After Chinese ships sailed into restricted waters off Matsu shortly afterward, the CGA’s Kinmen-Matsu-Penghu Branch deployed four patrol vessels to shadow and approach the vessels, it said. The incidents pushed up to 44 the number
Renovations on the B3 concourse of Taipei Main Station are to begin on Nov. 1, with travelers advised to use entrances near the Taiwan Railway or high-speed rail platforms or information counter to access the MRT’s Red Line. Construction is to be completed before the end of next year, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said last week. To reduce the impact on travelers, the NT$95 million (US$2.95 million) project is to be completed in four stages, it said. In the first stage, the hall leading to the Blue Line near the art exhibition area is to be closed from Nov. 1 to the end
Taipei’s Ximending (西門町) shopping area welcomed the most international visitors, followed by Taipei 101, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park and Yangmingshan National Park (陽明山國家公園), a list of the city’s most popular tourist attractions published by the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism showed. As of August, 69.22 million people had visited Taipei’s main tourism spots, a 76 percent increase from 39.33 million in the same period last year, department data showed. Ximending had 20.21 million visitors, followed by Taipei 101 at 8.09 million, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park at 6.28 million, Yangmingshan at 4.51 million and the Red House Theater (西門紅樓) in
WARNING: Domestic coffee producers mainly grow arabica beans, as they self-pollinate, but they are more likely to have consistency issues, an expert said Taiwan ranks third in coffee consumption per capita in Asia, the latest Ministry of Agriculture data showed. Taiwanese consume 1.77kg, or 177 cups of coffee, per person each year, less only than Japan and South Korea, at 600 cups and 400 cups respectively, the ministry’s Tea and Beverage Research Station said. Although the nation mainly relies on imported coffee, there has been an increase in home-grown coffee bean production, the ministry said. Cuttings and other techniques are commonly used to ensure domestic beans have stronger floral and fruity flavors, it said. It is a fast-expanding market with Taiwan’s coffee consumption
RSS