The Taitung County Government on Monday appealed to the Supreme Court to overrule a verdict issued by the Kaohsiung High Administrative Court in October that revoked the county’s approval of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report for the construction of the Miramar Resort Hotel in Shanyuan Bay (杉原灣), saying that the move could help to mitigate financial loss should the resort’s developer demand state compensation.
Taitung County Government Secretary-General Chen Chin-hu (陳金虎) yesterday said that it is unlikely the judges would rule in favor of the county’s approval of the EIA report, which could prompt Miramar Resort Hotel Co to file a lawsuit against the government, demanding compensation to offset the losses it suffered for the build-operate-transfer project.
Taitung County Commissioner Justin Huang (黃健庭), who was re-elected in the nine-in-one elections on Saturday, also expressed concern over the possibility the company would demand indemnification, saying that the judicial system has negated the county government’s policies, and that the prospects of future assessments being acknowledged are bleak.
“Miramar will not tolerate a hotel complex in which it has invested more than NT$1 billion [US$32.3 million] becoming defunct. The Taitung County Government is prepared to face a lawsuit demanding state compensation,” he said.
Meanwhile, Thomas Chan (詹順貴), an attorney representing county residents and environmental activists who oppose the project, said the county government should not try to use the prospect of state compensation to browbeat the public.
He said such compensation is only upheld when the court deems that a government has breached the principle of legitimate expectation, in which case the government changes or cancels its decisions, thus failing to live up to people’s expectations and causing them financial loss.
“Miramar Resort Hotel Co started this incident by bypassing EIA procedures to construct the hotel, so the fault is not entirely on the county government. The judges might not necessarily uphold a verdict holding it liable for state compensation,” Chan said.
Lin Shu-ling (林淑玲), an Amis Aborigine and Taitung resident, criticized the county’s appeal, calling it a waste of public funds.
“The county government has approved two EIA reports by the company; both were revoked by judges. It should get the judges’ messages through its head,” Lin said.
“If the county government really wishes to avoid the scenario, it should lay out clear strategies and put this issue to a public discussion,” she said.
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,
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
RSS