PCT concerned about possible sale of public lands in East coast

From "Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>
Date Fri, 21 Jan 2011 11:55:41 +0800

3073Edition                                                                 
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
       
January 17-23, 2011

Headline News



PCT concerned about possible sale of public lands in East coast



Reported by Chiou Kuo-rong

Written by Lydia Ma



Some NGOs are describing the East Region Development Bill as the latest 
conspiracy between businessmen and lawmakers in an attempt to line up their 
own pockets at the expense of the environment.

About 20 different NGOs and their representatives opposed this new bill and 
staged an urgent press conference to discuss this bill with the public 
because its repercussions could include mass sale of government-owned 
lands.                                                                      
        

PCT Church and Society Committee Secretary Huang Che-yen spoke on behalf of 
PCT during this press conference and underscored that about 87.9% of lands 
in Taitung were government-owned. If the county magistrate ever had the 
authority to sell these lands to private investors, the consequences could 
be disastrous.

Apparently, a majority of these lands either encompassed steep mountains or 
sea shores and most of them are categorized as “geologically sensitive” and 
“unstable” natural environments.

“We support development and progress,” Huang said. “But we’re opposed to 
this almost colonial-like way of partitioning the land in the name of 
progress or development alone.”

According to reports, negotiation between KMT and DPP parties collapsed 
before the third legislative reading of the bill. Nevertheless, opponents 
of the bill know that they must remain on guard because Legislative Yuan 
President Wang Jin-Pyng vowed to continue negotiations on this matter at 
the next legislative session.



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