Public funds should not be wasted on a road widening subproject for a proposed incinerator in Nantou County’s Mingjian Township (名間), as the project, which has caused strong controversy, might not even pass the second phase of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) review, environmental advocates said yesterday.
The project, proposed by the county government, would build Nantou’s first incinerator, but is facing vocal backlash from local residents due to its potential impact on the local tea industry.
At an EIA meeting held at the county’s Environmental Protection Bureau on Saturday last week, protesters knelt in front of a row of officials and police while expressing their concern for the impact of the project.
Photo courtesy of the Minjian Township Anti-Incinerator Self-Help Association
Minister of Agriculture Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) on Tuesday said the incinerator would not be set up in the township without a solid EIA, considering that it is responsible for the majority of tea production in Taiwan.
The 7.5-hectare land planned for the incinerator is located within a special agricultural zone with many tea gardens, orchards and crop fields, he said.
To build the incinerator, the county government must obtain a permit from the Ministry of Agriculture, Chen said, adding that the ministry would strictly review the proposal.
The bureau on Saturday last week said that permission is not required for the county government to use existing roads for access to the site, and that permission has already been obtained from relevant landowners to widen the primary access road.
Works to widen the roads could be completed by the end of this year, it said, adding that the matter is separate from the EIA review.
However, environmental advocates yesterday at a news conference reiterated that the bureau has not yet fully obtained permission from the relevant authority to go ahead with the site itself.
Government Watch Alliance organizer Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) also said the National Property Administration has not granted permission for the use of the state-owned land located along the primary access road.
The road is within the range of leopard cat activities, and its surrounding farmland should not be subject to road widening before its permit classification has changed, she said.
It is rare that the bureau initiates road-widening efforts far before a proposed project passes its EIA review, Chen Jiau-hua said.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
RSS