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Farmers protest at
the Executive Yuan
DIVERSIONARY TACTICS: Changhua County farmers
say taking more water from the Cizaipijun channel for a science park¡¦s use would
drive them out of business
By Loa Iok-sin / Staff Reporter
Farmers and farming activists
demonstrate outside the Executive Yuan in Taipei yesterday against a plan to
channel water to the Central Taiwan Science Park.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
More than 600 farmers and farming
activists yesterday demonstrated outside the Executive Yuan in Taipei, calling
for a halt to an irrigation project for the Central Taiwan Science Park¡¦s (CTSP)
Erlin campus.
The farmers, who came from Changhua County¡¦s Sijhou (·Ë¦{), Pitou (°ñÀY), Jhutang
(¦Ë¶í), Tianjhong (¥Ð¤¤) and Beidou (¥_¤æ) townships, held aloft signs, banners,
balloons and farm produce as they accused the government of trying to destroy
farming, the major means of livelihood for the tens of thousands of households
in the area.
To provide water for the use of the Erlin Campus, the Changhua County Irrigation
Association has agreed to allow the science park to take a maximum of 33,000
tonnes of water per day ¡X for NT$3 per tonne ¡X from Cizaipijun (Ûl¥J°ñ¦`), the major
irrigation channel for southern Changhua County.
Area farmers fear the move would reduce the amount of water available to them
for irrigation.
¡§We have already been hurting for water since the Jiji Dam (¶°¶°Ädªe³÷) was built
more than a decade ago ¡X water only comes through Cizaipijun four days out of
10,¡¨ Hsieh Pao-yuan (ÁÂÄ_¤¸), a Sijhou farmer and the president of the Alliance
against CTSP¡¦s Seizure of Water, told the crowd.
¡§The irrigation channel supplies water for 18,000 hectares of farmland, which
30,000 households depend on,¡¨ Hsieh said.
¡§How are these families going to survive if farming has to be suspended due to
lack of water? Can the science park provide enough job openings for all these
people?¡¨ he asked.
The Jiji Dam on the Jhuoshuei River (¿B¤ô·Ë) deviates water from the upper stretch
of the river and sends tens of thousands of tonnes of water to the Formosa
Plastics oil refineries in Mailiao Township (³Á¼d), Yunlin County. This has
limited the water available downstream for farmers to use.
Thomas Chan (¸â¶¶¶Q), a lawyer and long-time farming activist, said the irrigation
project not only poses a serious threat to farming activities in southern
Changhua County, but it is illegal ¡X along with the construction work that began
earlier this year.
Although the Environmental Protection Administration says the scale of the
construction does not require an environmental impact assessment (EIA), this is
not true, he said.
¡§The laws on EIAs stipulate that an EIA is required if a construction would take
more than 2 cubic meters of water per second. However, according to the Changua
County Irrigation Association¡¦s own official figures, the CTSP would be taking
3.078 cubic meters of water per second from the irrigation system,¡¨ Chan said.
¡§Moreover, an EIA is required when a construction site is larger than 10
hectares and a 13 hectare sand settling pond is planned for the project.¡¨
The government should not turn a blind eye to the facts and should intervene
immediately, Chan said.
Meanwhile, National Chengchi Unversity¡¦s Department of Land Economics chairman
Hsu Shih-jung (®}¥@ºa) said the government was ¡§shameful¡¨ and ¡§makes farmers take
to the streets for their own survival.¡¨
¡§I don¡¦t know whether it is worth celebrating for the Republic of China¡¦s
centennial, since this government is not treating the people right,¡¨ he said.
Executive Yuan official Liu Yi-chuan (¼B¯qÅv), who came out to take the petition
from the demonstrators, said the government would take the farmers¡¦ opinions
into consideration when making a decision on the project.
Minor scuffles broke out when Liu rushed back to the Executive Yuan, refusing to
answer a question from farmers on whether the government plans to halt the
construction now underway.
Protesters said they were not happy with the government¡¦s response and vowed to
take further action until the project is stopped.
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