Post Christmas Construction Industrial State Blues

Death lurks in the tall grass.

On the heels of the defeat for the environment by the Miramar Hotel, the government is announcing a feasibility study for a highway between Hualien and Taitung to cut the travel time for the 180 km route by one hour. Lots of people passing this around on social networks, accompanied by expressions of disgust and dismay. It's obviously not for "local residents" (Taitung's population is declining over time and note below comments on highway use), but for the anticipated big busloads of Chinese tourists whose presence is an excuse for spraying ever more concrete around Taiwan's most beautiful areas as well as to better enable gravel and other firms to strip the area of its resources. Highway construction will also enable the KMT to feed and water its patronage networks on the East Coast. The TT writes:

Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) yesterday said the ministry intended to budget NT$15 million (US$484,000) next year to conduct an assessment on building an expressway connecting Hualien and Taitung.

The government is electrifying the rail line between Hualien and Taitung, something discussed for years. The highway bureau also observed:

DGH Director General Wu Meng-feng (吳盟分) said highways 9 and 11 are the two main roads connecting Hualien and Taitung, and the travel time is between three and four hours.

He said that traffic on a normal weekday only usually accounts for about 20 percent of the highway’s designed capacity.

Yes, that's right. The government is talking about putting in four lanes of tarmac to replace two lanes that operate at only 20 percent of capacity outside Lunar New Year and a few other times. Just another example of my friend Jeff's pithy comment on Taiwan's construction-industrial state: "There's no place in Taiwan so beautiful it doesn't need more concrete."

See the east coast soon; development is going to destroy it.

UPDATE: Klaus has a vague map on his excellent post on the environment.
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DAILY LINKS:

• Mess Halls from the days when US servicemen and their families were posted here. Don't miss the post below with pics of the Grand Hotel from a half-century ago. 
• Government moves forward on "free economic zones." These will be full service areas which will have special regulations for environment, land acquisition, labor, etc. Labor: once again the government is going to push to get more "foreign labor" in, reduce the minimum wage, and float suggestions that Taiwan import Chinese workers. 
• AsiaEye with Under the Radar News
• Reservoirs in Taiwan are sufficient through Feb.

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[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums! Delenda est, baby.

For years the Ministry of Transport and Communications has wanted to fill in that section of wild coast, the last remaining section in Taiwan, with a shiny new paved road to connect the broken ends of Highway 26. The environmental impact assessment for the road itself was approved back in 2002 but so far the project has remained uncompleted. Taiwan Today collects a rare article critical of government policy, discussing the impacts of the proposed road.....

Local academics urged the government Sept. 26 to reconsider a highway construction project that threatens to destroy an ancient trail along Taiwan’s southeast coast.

“The Alangyi Ancient Trail should be designated a nature reserve because of its historical and ecological importance to Taiwan,” David Chang, professor of geography at National Taiwan University, said at a news conference in Taipei, where a petition signed by more than 700 academics was presented.

The trail, along what has been dubbed “the last remaining stretch of natural coastline in Taiwan,” connects Anshuo in Taitung County and Xuhai in Pingtung County.

According to scholars, the trail should undergo only minimal development, as it is home to several species of fauna and flora unique to Taiwan and a witness to historic exchanges between indigenous groups, Han Chinese and foreign forces. It also preserves a trove of geographical evidence of climate change in southern Taiwan.

Controversy has surrounded the development project since it was proposed in 2002 to complete Taiwan’s round-island road network by linking Anshuo and Xuhai with an extension of Provincial Highway 26.

In addition to the destruction caused by the road itself, it will also bring in other infrastructure, such as shops and houses. In February the Pingtung County government declared the trail a local landmark, which blocked construction until Jan 1, 2012. The current plan is to "preserve" nature by putting in tunnels and reducing the road impact, but the road is still going through. The one immutable law of Taiwan politics is: Thou shalt not stand between a developer and his money. In recognition of this, the EPA official in the article noted that the plan is already completed and only the developer can stop the project now.

REF: Video of bikers on the Alangyi Ancient Trail. Wish they had invited me!
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[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums! Delenda est, baby.