Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Fu Kun-chi have proposed carrying out the extension project of the Shuishalian Freeway (Freeway No. 6) to Hualien County.
For Hualien residents, it is great news. However, we should wait and see whether this is an empty promise from politicians.
Due to the Central Mountain Range, it takes a long time to travel from Nantou County to Hualien County, despite them being adjacent to each other. It requires people to go a long way — half a loop of Taiwan — or to use Provincial Highway No. 7. The journey takes at least four to five hours.
The administration of former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) tried construct a Nantou-Hualien expressway, but the project was abandoned for a few reasons. For one, the project would require an enormous budget of NT$500 billion (US$15.6 billion).
It would also pass near a tectonic fault line.
For a long time, Hualien residents have been looking forward to the extension of Freeway No. 6. That way, those from Hualien living elsewhere would be able to travel home more conveniently and safely. Of course, people also hope that the transportation system could be improved so that it would be easier to travel from Hualien to central and western Taiwan. This could revitalize Hualien’s economy and people living there could earn more.
However, are these expectations realistic? How would such goals be achieved?
Even if the difficulties in road construction could be overcome, there are other problems.
All Taiwanese should think carefully about the disadvantages of the extension project. Shortening the travel time from Hualien to central Taiwan would bring both merits and drawbacks.
Taiwanese must think of the project in a rational and comprehensive way.
Hualien is called “Taiwan’s back garden.” The county boasts mountains, forests and the ocean, which have not been exposed to too much environmental damage. Hualien is, to some extent, isolated from other places, so air and water pollution are not so serious there as in other places.
Due to this, many people love to travel to Hualien and stay there for a few days, having a healthy and carefree countryside experience.
If Hualien could be reached more easily, industry would move there. Hualien residents would not be able to stop the tide.
After industrial sectors relocate to Hualien, the county’s natural environment would likely be damaged.
For the hospitality industry, the improvement of transportation is not necessarily a good thing either. If people in western Taiwan could visit Hualien on day trips, nobody would need to spend a night there. Hotels would not benefit from a more convenient transportation system. Moreover, if a great number of tourists travel to Hualien every day, there could be serious problems in traffic.
Everyone would have to cope with the issue of pollution and “Taiwan’s back garden” would be damaged.
Advanced countries pay much more attention to saving energy and reducing carbon emissions.
Taiwan should not be fixated on improving the transportation system.
Instead, Taiwanese should think about sustainability — devoting themselves to the preservation of the mountains, forests and ecology as a whole — and leave a healthy environment to the next generations.
Chen Chi-nung is principal of Shuili Junior High School in Nantou County.
Translated by Emma Liu
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