The government hammered out a plan between businesses and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) yesterday to establish permanent housing for people displaced by Typhoon Morakot on a plot of land provided by Taiwan Sugar Corp.
The deal was reached at a meeting chaired by Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) at the Cabinet’s reconstruction office in Kaohsiung County.
The plan will see the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation build a community that can accommodate between 800 and 1,000 households in association with Hon Hai Group on a 23.5 hectare plot next to Shanlin Junior High School in Kaohsiung County that is owned by state-run Taiwan Sugar.
Vice Minister of the Interior Lin Join-sane (林中森) said the government wants to build 13 villages with NGOs and private businesses using this complex as a model.
“Everything is set to swing into action — designing the housing, conducting a survey of victims’ willingness to relocate, handling the property rights and drawing up proposals to integrate technology and green energy ideas into the community,” Lin said.
Construction was expected to start within two weeks, he said, adding that the government had encouraged the agencies involved to hire typhoon victims to build their own homes.
Cooperation between NGOs and businesses would proceed smoothly because the government would help ease legal restrictions to facilitate construction, Liu said in a statement released by the Executive Yuan.
Meanwhile, a Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) official said yesterday that a water channeling project that has been blamed for the destruction of Siaolin Village (小林) in Kaohsiung County during the typhoon will remain suspended until its safety has been evaluated.
The project, which involves channeling water from Laonong River (荖濃溪) to the Zengwon Reservoir (曾文水庫) in Tainan County and delivering treated water back to Kaohsiung, was aimed at resolving growing water shortages in the Kaohsiung area.
The work was suspended soon after the Siaolin tragedy and there has been speculation that dynamiting during the project damaged the already fragile landscape, leading to the massive landslides that destroyed the village in minutes, killing hundreds of residents.
Huang Chin-shan (黃金山), a council adviser, said the Cabinet did not think it would be appropriate to restart the work when the survivors are still mourning the loss of their loved ones and their homes.
Huang wasn’t sure when the project would be resumed, but said the project must not be suspended for too long because this could result in huge losses.
In the event of the project being scrapped, the most immediate impact would be seen in the Southern Taiwan Science Park, which is experiencing severe water shortages, he said.
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