ECOLOGICAL DAMAGE? The project in Penghu’s Dacang Island was scrapped in 2015 as it had bypassed an EIA and public hearings — problems that it has yet to address
Taipei Times
Date: Nov 21, 2019
By: Liu Yu-ching and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Penghu County Commissioner Lai Feng-wei’s (賴峰偉) plans to revive a Matsu statue project that
The abandoned Dacang Island Matsu statue project site is pictured on Tuesday in Penghu County yesterday.
Photo: Liu Yu-ching, Taipei Times
Lai recently announced five possible locations for the statue and called on residents to “rally together” behind the project, which was originally planned to be the centerpiece of a tourist attraction on Dacang Island (大倉島).
The Dacang site was picked in 2011 by then-Pingtung County commissioner Wang Chien-fa (王乾發), who envisioned a 66m bronze statue of Matsu, but the project was scrapped in 2015 after it was found the planners had bypassed an environmental impact assessment (EIA) and public hearings, and that it could damage Penghu’s ecosystem.
With the project suspended, the completed bronze statue has remained at a warehouse in Changhua County’s Dacun Village (大村). [FULL STORY]
