Environmentalists protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) yesterday, accusing the government of not developing green and alternative transportation methods in the east of the country as promised while moving ahead with the controversial Suhua Freeway under the table.
The protest came just days before the Global Day of Action against global warming on Dec 6.
Chanting slogans such as, “December 6th, Taiwan be cool” and “Drive less, fight global warming,” Society of Wilderness spokesperson Tony Chou (周東漢) told reporters: “We all thought the Suhua Freeway issue was closed, but in reality it is still very much alive.”
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The disputed project, proposed more than a decade ago, was halted on April 25 when it failed to pass the Environmental Protection Administration’s environmental impact evaluation.
The project was returned to the ministry, which means that if the ministry wanted to go ahead with the project (pending Cabinet approval), it would have to begin a new environmental review process.
The protesters were angered by the ministry’s proposed budget for next year, which is due to go through a legislative review process between now and January, Chou said.
“While not a single dollar has been allocated for the purchase of new trains for the east coast and there has been no mention of the Suhua Freeway alternate route that Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) spoke about earlier, a budget for the Suhua Freeway has been listed from now until 2014, amounting to about NT$93 billion [US$2.8 billion],” Chou said.
Chou was referring to Liu’s announcement in early July that the government planned to construct “an alternative road” to the Suhua Highway connecting Nanao (南澳) in Ilan County and Hoping (和平) in Hualien County. The announcement led environmentalists to accuse the government of playing name games, especially after Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) said soon afterwards that the alternative route would be “of freeway standard” but would not be the Suhua Freeway.
“There is only a brief mention of an ‘improvement plan’ for the Suhua Highway, with a budget of about NT$30 million,” Green Party Taiwan Secretary-General Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) said.
“To get the NT$93 billion budget for the freeway, the ministry will take NT$7 billion from its budget, request NT$20.4 billion from the national budget, while getting the remaining NT$65 billion from selling government bonds and going into debt,” Pan said.
“This is an act that would leave a heavy debt for generations to come,” he said.
However, national highway construction section chief Lan Wei-gung (藍維恭) said yesterday that it was necessary to list the freeway project in the budget because some accounts for the project had yet to be formally closed.
It was “like a company would list its losses on its books,” he said.
“This is just like any company’s accounts book … The Suhua Freeway had been going on for many years. It went through a formal budget review and bidding process, so the books must reflect the activities because some of the accounts have not yet be settled,” he said.
Budgets were planned for the freeway until 2014, but that does not mean that it would happen now, he said.
“From what we can see now, it would be impossible for the Suhua Freeway to be allocated funds in the 2010 budget book,” he said.
As for the improvement plan for the Suhua Highway, Lan said it was written in the budget book to offer legislators alternative options to the freeway or its alternative route.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
Taiwan successfully defended its women’s 540 kilogram title and won its first-ever men’s 640 kg title at the 2026 World Indoor Tug of War Championships in Taipei yesterday. In the women’s event, Taiwan’s eight-person squad reached the final following a round-robin preliminary round and semifinals featuring teams from Ukraine, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Basque Country and South Korea. In the finals, they swept the Basque team 2-0, giving the team composed mainly of National Taiwan Normal University students and graduates its second championship in a row, and its fourth in five years. Team captain
RSS