New communications facilities on Yilan’s Gueishan Island (龜山), also known as Turtle Island, have been approved, sparking concerns over potential effects on the environment.
Yilan County’s Toucheng Township (頭城) Office said that requests to build a new communications base station on the island have received preliminary approval from the National Communications Commission.
The station is important for the communications and disaster-prevention needs of the island’s residents, the office said.
Photo courtesy of Toucheng Township Office
Township office representative Yang Pi-tsun (楊碧村) proposed the station at last month’s township representatives meeting, saying that the island’s only communications facility — belonging to China Telecom — is insufficient.
“Only having one telecom service provider operating on the island is an inconvenience for visitors and fishermen working in the area,” Yang said.
Yang said that other providers could be invited to use the township’s land to build a base station.
Photo: Lin Ching-lun, Taipei Times
Representatives from the township office, members of the public and officials from the commission surveyed the island for a feasibility study, Yang said, adding that the commission has given its initial approval.
The office said it would draft a plan and the station could be completed by June next year.
It said that the commission would cover part of the construction costs.
However, the Society of Wilderness said that the structure could negatively effect the landscape.
Although the effect of microwave signals emitted from such stations on people and animals has yet to be determined, the structure itself, if too large, would affect the landscape, which draws people to the island, the society’s Yilan chapter secretary Wang Chun-ming (王俊明) said.
Public officials have discussed the potential effects, township office representative Lin Shih-ing (林詩穎) said, adding that the structure would be too small to disrupt the view.
Lin said the public must cooperate to solve the communications needs of the island while taking the environment into consideration.
“We have not decided how to build the station, but we will aim for a design that blends well with the surroundings,” the township office said.
“It will not be too big, it will not have a big impact on the environment,” it added.
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