《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Environmentalists protest Kaohsiung freeway project

By Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter

Kaohsiung residents and environmentalists yesterday protested a proposed freeway project ahead of its environmental review, saying the freeway would be situated on an active fault line and demanding that the review be halted until a complete geological survey has been completed.

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Protesters gathered in front of the Environmental Protection Administration building in Taipei to oppose the Freeway No. 7 project, a 23km section connecting the city’s Siaogang （小港）, Daliao （大寮） and Renwu （仁武） districts, designed to divert rising traffic volume surrounding the Port of Kaohsiung.

They said that although the freeway would be situated in a geologically unstable area, geological surveys have not been undertaken, despite repeated demands, while there have also been procedural flaws in the review process.

Chien Chih-Chiang （簡志強）, director of a self-help group, said the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, which is proposing the project, has not completed a geological survey or proposed response measures to soil solidification, but instead has issued a document claiming an assessment would be conducted.

“The Cishan （旗山） fault is an active fault system and the Legislative Yuan has requested that [the authorities] conduct surveys in the area. We demand that the project’s review be halted until the Central Geological Survey completes its research,” Chien said.

The Environmental Impact Assessment Act （環境影響評估法） states that practical alternatives to a proposed project should be reviewed by an environmental impact assessment committee to determine whether the proposed project is the optimal choice, but the ministry, in a project plan submitted for yesterday’s review, had rejected two alternatives proposed in earlier reviews, Taiwan Water Resources Protection Union spokesperson Chen Jiau-hua （陳椒華） said.

The two alternatives included construction at Guangming Road （光明路） in Daliao and the other to the west of the Gaoping River （高屏溪）, but the ministry said the two alternatives were dramatically different from the freeway project and should be treated as new project proposals, refusing to consider them viable alternatives.

In the project plan, the ministry states that the review committee has already finished discussions concerning the topography, geology and soil structure, but the environmental groups disputed that and asked the administration to release audio recordings of the alleged discussions.

Review committee member Lee Yu-ming （李育明） said the discussions on topography, geology and soil structure are still ongoing.

Environmental groups paralyzed the review process using a series of procedural strategies and the meeting was later suspended with no outcome agreed.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES