Asia Sentinel, a widely lniked site that reports on news from all over Asia, has a good article on the plans to drive a highway from Suao to Hualien through some of the most spectacular terrain on the island.
But this is an election year for the national legislature in December and presidency next March, so politicians need major projects to show the public and to raise money from companies for their campaigns. That is why the highway is now back on the public agenda, to be taken up by a 16-member government-appointed evaluation committee at the end of April, the last stage in the approval process. Two have come out in favor, five against and nine have not expressed an opinion.The four-lane highway would connect two towns on the east coast, Suao and Hualien, and require 11 tunnels and 27 bridges on a route that runs through breathtaking mountains that descend into the sea. The highway would pass through eight reserves and beauty spots including the Taroko Gorge, one of the island’s main tourist sites, inflicting damage on all of them.
The bare-knuckle contest over the highway is a throwback to a pork-barrel era of politics in which the beneficiaries will be the construction firms that get the contracts, insiders who will be well compensated for land they have bought on the highway route and politicians receiving kickbacks. The huge expense and the fierce opposition of the environmental lobby are the reasons why the highway has not been built since it was first proposed in 1990.
For its supporters, the road would link Hualien to the highway network that emanates from Taipei, cutting the driving time to the capital from four hours to two and making it a more attractive destination for investors and tourists. Companies that produce goods in the town would be able to move them more quickly to domestic and foreign consumers. This influx of visitors and capital would raise the value of land and property in Hualien and bring more business to its shops, restaurants and other retail businesses.
The great environmental group Wild at Heart has long been in opposition to this project. Give them a few spare pennies if you have them, they'll put'em to good use.
[Taiwan]
2 comments:
Mark, great story, great reporting. One thing though. You refer often to Taiwan as an ISLAND, why not call it what it is a NATION, a COUNTRY, an ISLAND NATION? Don't follow the chicom propaganda line.
RE: Taiwanese environmentalists try to stop an expressway through some of THE ISLAND NATION'S last unspoiled territory
Taiwanese environmentalists are nearing the crunch in their fight to stop a government plan to build an 85-kilometre expressway through some of the island NATION’s last pristine territory. It will cost a whopping NT$93 billion (US$2.81 billion), take seven and a half years to build and is fiercely opposed by many of the people it is supposed to benefit.
But this is an election year for the national legislature in December and presidency next March, so politicians need major projects to show the public and to raise money from companies for their campaigns. That is why the highway is now back on the public agenda, to be taken up by a 16-member government-appointed evaluation committee at the end of April, the last stage in the approval process. Two have come out in favor, five against and nine have not expressed an opinion.
The four-lane highway would connect two towns on the east coast, Suao and Hualien, and require 11 tunnels and 27 bridges on a route that runs through breathtaking mountains that descend into the sea. The highway would pass through eight reserves and beauty spots including the Taroko Gorge, one of the COUNTRY's main tourist sites, inflicting damage on all of them.
The bare-knuckle contest over the highway is a throwback to a pork-barrel era of politics in which the beneficiaries will be the construction firms that get the contracts, insiders who will be well compensated for land they have bought on the highway route and politicians receiving kickbacks. The huge expense and the fierce opposition of the environmental lobby are the reasons why the highway has not been built since it was first proposed in 1990.
For its supporters, the road would link Hualien to the highway network that emanates from Taipei, cutting the driving time to the capital from four hours to two and making it a more attractive destination for investors and tourists. Companies that produce goods in the town would be able to move them more quickly to domestic and foreign consumers. This influx of visitors and capital would raise the value of land and property in Hualien and bring more business to its shops, restaurants and other retail businesses.
For its opponents, these benefits are greatly outweighed by the environmental destruction.
Hualien, a mountainous county that stretches along the east coast, has just 300,000 people – out of the 23 million in the whole COUNTRY (SIR!) – of whom one third live in the town. It has few industries and relies on agriculture, mining, tourism, including resort homes owned by the rich, and a fishing and cargo port.
It is home to the military’s eastern command, with a large air base and jets stored in tunnels dug out of the mountain. Test flights by these jets are the only sounds that disturb the area’s postcard tranquility.
Hualien was the last part of Taiwan to be settled by Han Chinese. Aboriginals – the native inhabitants ‑ still account for 25 per cent of its population. Most of the county is mountains, with a narrow stretch of flat and cultivable land along the coast.
“East Taiwan is the last piece of pure land in the island NATION and we are threatening to destroy it for the sake of short-term speculation,” declared Yan Chang-shou, the president of the Ritz Hotel group, at a press conference on March 7.
The opponents include an alliance of 132 non-government associations in Hualien who have collected more than 10,000 signatures on an Internet petition launched on March 6, and groups of Aboriginals who say that they have not been consulted and that, if the highway is built, they will no longer be able to buy the land on which their ancestors have lived for centuries.
Even hoteliers in Hualien are dubious. “Visitors who come from Taipei have to spend at least a night, because it is too far away,” said Liang Kuo-ming, a manager of the Azure business hotel. “But, if this highway is built, they could come and go in a single day. So it would be bad for the hotel sector here.”
The county government supports the project, as does a majority of members of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the opposition Nationalist Party. One exception is Frank Hsieh, a former DPP Prime Minister and a candidate as the party’s presidential nominee for the election in March 2008.
“A majority of the public support the highway because they have been encouraged to do so,” Hsieh said. “Destroying the environment and the habitat is an issue for the future. A nation’s leaders should take a long-term view. My opinion now is that of the minority but will be the majority in the long term. And we cannot take on too heavy a financial debt, to leave to future generations to repay.”
Hsieh said that politicians liked big construction projects. “You can immediately see the result, in the form of opportunities, jobs and growth. Private investment is insufficient, so the government has to invest. You use investment to increase GDP. This was the simple lesson I learnt as prime minister. We spent NT$200 billion and GDP would rise.”
The issue is whether Taiwan is still a prisoner of the development model of Japan, in which vast amounts of money have been spent on bridges to nowhere and airports in nearly uninhabited areas to please their contractor backers, or whether its leaders have matured enough to take the decision that will be welcomed by future generations.
Until fairly recently, Taiwan’s headlong urge for development has resulted in disastrous damage. Taiwan has some of Asia’s most polluted rivers and heavy traffic and high concentrations of industrial plants have made air pollution one of Taiwan’s most serious problems. According to a study by the government’s Environmental Protection Administration, vehicular exhaust comprises more than 95 percent of the air pollution in Taipei, Taiwan's largest city.
Now citizens are wondering if it isn’t time to apply the energy that built the economy into making the island NATION livable.
*thank you for the corrections, Mark in Hong Kong!
How horrible! There's nothing wrong with the highway as it is right now. In some places, it's a little crowded and practically impossible for two cars to pass each other, but I think this adds a sense of adventure to this gorgeous area on Taiwan's east coast.
I'm all for building a better tourist industry in Taiwan. Taiwan has so much to offer and most travelers pass it by in lieu of other countries with bigger drawcards. I just hope that the Taiwanese government doesn't make too many changes. I think Taiwan's East Coast is beautiful, raw and perfect just the way it is.
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