Environmental groups yesterday urged the Council of Agriculture (COA) and the Ministry of the Interior to clarify their procedures for the removal of illegal facilities on farmland.
Premier Lin Chuan (林全) last month said that demolishing 286 illegal factories built after May 20 last year was the government’s priority.
The Environmental Rights Foundation and other groups yesterday organized a workshop in Taipei, inviting officials to clarify their respective roles in the plan.
The agencies had decided to categorize illegal facilities built after May 20 last year into those under construction and those already built, Construction and Planning Agency senior technical specialist Yang Zhe-wei (楊哲維) said.
Developers building factories are to be required to halt construction and demolish their facilities before a given time, or the government would forcibly remove them, he said, citing the Building Act (建築法).
Owners of finished factories would face fines of between NT$60,000 and NT$300,000 (US$1,985 and US$9,927) and would also be given a deadline for removal, Yang said, adding that in line with the Regional Plan Act (區域計畫法, their electricity and water supply could be cut off if they do not obey.
The demolitions would be carried out by local governments, Yang said, adding that all the necessary regulations were in place.
Citizen of the Earth, Taiwan researcher Pan Cheng-cheng (潘正正) asked if the COA and the ministry could establish clear standards for implementation, as different agencies appeared to have applied inconsistent criteria in the past.
“We have passed our standard operating procedures to local agencies,” COA technical specialist Tang Chen-hsin (唐晨欣) said.
While demolishing a built factory could cost about NT$2 million, cutting power and water supply as a first measure is more cost-efficient, she said.
Forcible removal would follow if an owner is fined for two or three consecutive rounds, Tang said.
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry