In the latest twist to the controversial Suao-Hualien freeway project, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said on Friday that further review of the freeway's environmental impact is needed. But the national expressway authority contended yesterday that the project will proceed.
"We will invite the EPA committee members to come to the construction site while pushing ahead with the Hualien freeway project," said Taiwan Area National Expressway Engineering Bureau Director General Bane Chiou (邱琳濱). "I think it is a wish of both central and local governments to have the freeway construction started as soon as possible."
A majority of the EPA committee members argued that the environment in Hualien had changed due to the 921Earthquake, floods and typhoons in the past four years, and they advocated stricter criteria for evaluating the feasibility of the project. But Bureau officials countered that they have already conducted an updated geological survey and hydrological assessment.
"The environmental impact assessment report of the Hualien freeway is the most comprehensive in recent years and offers the latest information; the EPA might want to look further into that," Chiou said, noting that there were only four committee members present at the EPA meeting on Friday. The bureau will convene a meeting on Monday to discuss whether and when to file a report again.
"It is a question of administrative procedure, not a question of a change in policy," said the bureau's deputy chief engineer, Tseng Dar-jen (
Although the NT$96.2 billion project passed its first environmental impact assessment four years ago, opposition from grassroots environmental groups and the Council for Economic Planning and Development under the Executive Yuan has put the infrastructure project on hold. The bureau submitted two more reports on how to prevent environmental harm in December last year and April. Yet neither of the reports met the EPA's standards.
In December of last year, Premier Yu Shyi-kun announced that the project would be suspended for a three-month review after Hualien County Commissioner Hsieh Shen-shan (
Yet an official poll later showed that about 78 percent of Hualien residents favored the freeway project, with the hope that it will boost the sluggish local economy. Caught in a tug-of-war between environmental and economic interests, the Hualien freeway has continued to draw controversy.
In August, the Council of Economic Planning and Development reportedly was prepared to replace the freeway project with a less extensive and more environmentally-friendly project, the Hualien-Taitung Express Train.
Early this month, however, Yu indicated the government's firm will to build the freeway, while stumping for Democratic Progressive Party legislative hopeful Lu Po-chi (
"We have collected lands and contracted with construction companies for the Hualien freeway. This is evidence of our sincere intent to build the freeway," Yu was quoted as saying in his address to Hualien voters.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
The Civil Aviation Administration yesterday said that it is considering punishments for China Airlines (CAL) and Starlux Airlines for making hard landings and overworking their cabin crew when the nation was hit by Typhoon Kong-rey in October last year. The civil aviation authority launched an investigation after media reported that many airlines were forced to divert their flights to different airports or go around after failing to land when the typhoon affected the nation on Oct. 30 and 31 last year. The agency reviewed 503 flights dispatched by Taiwanese airlines during those two days, as well as weather data, flight hours
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Three people have had their citizenship revoked after authorities confirmed that they hold Chinese ID cards, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said yesterday. Two of the three people were featured in a recent video about Beijing’s “united front” tactics by YouTuber Pa Chiung (八炯) and Taiwanese rapper Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源), including Su Shi-en (蘇士恩), who displayed a Chinese ID card in the video, and taekwondo athlete Lee Tung-hsien (李東憲), who mentioned he had obtained a Chinese ID card in a telephone call with Chen, Liang told the council’s weekly news conference. Lee, who reportedly worked in
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