Focus Taiwan
Date: 11/06/2020
By: Chang Jung-hsiang and Matthew Mazzetta

Tainan, Nov. 6 (CNA) Taiwan's China Petrochemical Development Corp. (CPDC) on Friday was ordered to pay NT$14.375 million (US$503,187) in compensation to Tainan residents for dioxin contamination caused by its plant in the city's Annan District.

In 2017, 229 residents living near CPDC's Anshun plant on Tainan's northwest coast filed a compensation claim against the company and the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).

They alleged that CPDC and its state-run predecessor had polluted the local waters with mercury, causing dangerous levels of dioxins in the fish and shrimp that served as one of their main food sources.

On Friday, Tainan District Court ruled that 190 of the claimants had already exceeded the maximum allowable time for making a compensation claim, but ordered CPDC to pay NT$14.375 million to the remaining 39 claimants, amounting to NT$368,590 per person.    [FULL  STORY]