Civic groups and residents from Pingtung County and Greater Kaohsiung yesterday held a protest in front of the Environmental Protection Administration just as officials were about to hold an environmental impact assessment meeting on construction of the “Gaoping Great Lakes” (高屏大湖) as part of a water diversion project in the south.
The protesters said the 697 hectare artificial lakes, planned by the Water Resources Agency’s Southern Region Water Resources Office, would greatly affect the water supply for shrimp farming, agriculture and household use.
The Gaoping Great Lakes project, located at the border of Pingtung County’s Ligang Township (里港) and Greater Kaohsiung’s Meinong District (美濃), was initially known as the Jiyang artificial lake project, an alternative plan to the Zengwun River (曾文溪) Cross-Border Channeling project that passed an assessment in 2002.
Photo: Tsai Wen-chu, Taipei Times
However, the Jiyang artificial lake project faced strong opposition from local residents and environmentalists throughout the decade, with construction budgets having been cut many times by the legislature over the years.
The now-renamed project was bundled with a project to ensure stable water supply in the area, with planned construction costing an estimated NT$16.1 billion (US$545.5 million).
Representatives from more than 35 civic groups opposing the project said it would turn farmland about 27 times the size of Da-an Forest Park in Taipei into artificial lakes 12m deep, and 3m-to-5m dikes would obstruct the groundwater and rainwater for irrigation in the area, causing even more serious flood problems.
“It doesn’t make sense to sacrifice the lives of us local residents and pump water from the area where we live to supply water to other areas,” said You Chi-ching (尤啟精), warden of Ligang’s Jhonghe Village (中和).
Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Lin Shih-chia (林世嘉) said the dikes risked blocking rainwater infiltration and causing floods in Greater Kaohsiung’s Meinong and Cishan districts (旗山), as well as Ligang Township, during the rainy season.
The tapwater leakage rate in Greater Kaoshiung was about 24 percent, the protesters said, urging the agency to spend money on improving the water-channeling leakage problem in the area instead of spending billions of dollars to build the artificial lakes.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,912) for advertisements that exceed its approved business scope, requiring the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license may be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter enforcement of Chinese e-commerce platforms and measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan in response to US President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs on China. The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee met today to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said
RSS