A group of academics yesterday urged the government to tear down the Miramar Resort Village project and called on their peers to refuse to join an environmental impact assessment (EIA) meeting on the controversial project next week.
A final verdict by the Supreme Administrative Court in September ruled that the EIA conclusion on the beachfront Miramar Resort Village at Taitung County’s Shanyuan Beach (杉原沙灘) was invalid and ordered that all construction work be halted.
While many civic groups called for the “illegal construction” to be torn down to protect the environment, the Taitung County Government has scheduled a new EIA meeting on the project for Thursday next week.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
Miramar Resort Village said in a press release yesterday that tearing down the construction “will cause more negative impacts than positive ones” and that the project has always proceeded according to the law.
Tai Hsing-sheng (戴興盛), an associate professor at National Dong Hwa University’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, said the local government’s decision to proceed with the project in spite of the court’s final verdict had “seriously damaged the dignity of a nation ruled by law.”
Tai added that 636 academics had signed a petition against the project within the past week.
The group also urged academics on the Environmental Impact Assessment Committee not to attend the meeting next week.
David Chang (張長義), a professor at National Taiwan University’s geography department who was a member of the EIA committee that reviewed the Miramar project several years ago, said most members who had expressed concern about or rejected the project have been removed from the committee by the local government over the years.
This shows the problem of “having the player [developer] act as the referee [reviewer],” Chang said.
In addition, he said the hotel is located in an environmentally sensitive area and could have a negative impact on the local ecology. Its location also overlaps with the traditional territory of Amis Aborigines.
“The government is acting like an ‘untamed horse running free’ by not conforming to the court’s ruling,” said Tu Wen-ling (杜文苓), an assistant professor at Shih-hsin University’s Department of Public Policy and Management.
She said the Miramar Resort Village was indicative of how the administration ignores the rule of law, pushing for another EIA in an attempt to have the construction project approved.
She said the government should put a stop to the project right now.
Liu Chiung-hsi (劉炯錫), a professor at National Taitung University’s Department of Natural Sciences, said academic members of the EIA committee should use their professional judgement and act responsibly.
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
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin (游智彬) this morning went to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) to “turn himself in” after being notified that he had failed to provide proof of having renounced his Chinese household registration. He was one of more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from China who were informed by the NIA that their Taiwanese citizenship might be revoked if they fail to provide the proof in three months, people familiar with the matter said. You said he has proof that he had renounced his Chinese household registration and demanded the NIA provide proof that he still had Chinese
RSS