屏科大社區林業研究室

（Taiwan Today）Scholars protest Pingtung-Taitung highway extension

Publication Date：09/27/2011
By  June Tsai

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.

Opinions vary at the grassroots level, as many expect the completion of the stretch to help improve the local economy while others argue that existing county roads suffice.

Facing opposition, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications drew up an alternative plan to replace some sections of open road with tunnels and reduce the width of the road.

The changed plan was approved by an Environmental Assessment Review Committee in December 2010, yet construction has not begun as in February the Pingtung County Government declared the ancient trail an Interim Natural Landscape protected by the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act. This designation will be effective until Jan. 31, 2012.

“The construction would have grave impact on the coastal environment and ecology, even with tunnels,” Chang said, adding that the developer failed to explain where the dirt from the work would be disposed of.

He urged that the case be put to thorough discussion by the National Council for Sustainable Development under the Executive Yuan.

Chiu Hei-yuan, a research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Sociology, said, “Taiwan is already clearly overdeveloped. Any development case is bound to involve local interests, and all these factors can interfere to prevent a comprehensive environmental impact assessment.”

Meanwhile, Yeh Jiunn-horng, director of the Department of Comprehensive Planning under the Environmental Protection Administration, said the development plan has already been approved and the result is legally binding. “Now the only one who can withdraw the plan is the developer.”

The MOTC said, however, that it would not begin construction before a consensus is reached. (THN)

News Source: http://www.taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=176952&ctNode=445