According to the Taiwan News, there are plans to repair a section of the Central Cross-Island Highway, which has been closed since the 9-21 Earthquake of 1999.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo promised on Tuesday to open an access road on an earthquake-damaged section of the east-west cross-island highway in central Taiwan to allow traffic between lower Guguan and the Deji reservoir in Taichung County's Heping township.
Answering questions from Legislator Yen Ching-piao, Mao said he hopes the partial repair work will begin next year.
Yen said that re-opening the highway -- which runs through one of the country's most scenic mountain ranges -- will boost Taiwan's tourism industry, especially now that the government has decided to allow tourists from China into Taiwan from next month.
Mao said his ministry is not sure that the whole central cross-island highway can be reopened because the geological instability of the mountain region in the location of the damaged road section has made the repair work extremely difficult.
He said he could only promise that a five-kilometer access road will be completed to allow residents and farmers between lower Guguan and the Deji reservoir to have easier access to population centers.
The Highway Bureau has estimated that it will cost at least NT$10 billion (US$328 million) and take more than 10 years to repair the 24-km section totally destroyed in the 1999 earthquake.
If boosting tourism is the main goal, the money could be better spent. Picking up the trash that litters Taiwan's countryside would be a good start. Using the money to expand nature reserves, which would attract eco-tourists, should also come before road rebuilding.
Showing posts with label tourism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tourism. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Scuba Diving's Bleak Future
Recently I talked to Andy Gray, a Briton who works as a diving instructor in Kenting. He's been diving around Taiwan since 1984. He also provided the photos with this entry.He thinks Taiwan is a good place to learn diving, but believes divers and dive operators here face a bleak future.
"Taiwan desperately needs to create proper marine parks before it is too late. The one they just opened 450 kilometres southwest of Taiwan [the Dongsha Atoll National Park ] is a joke. They should start with Kenting and then go on to Orchid Island and Green Island , then Penghu and Siaoliouciou. All of these places are being steadily fished out by local fishermen using gill nets, scuba divers who spear fish and aquarists collecting fish and corals for marine aquariums. That, combined with pollution and the dying-off of corals due to a high nitrate count, due to untreated sewage being dumped into the ocean, is causing massive choking weed growth and algae which is damaging the corals."
"If the powers that be do not take action to curtail the above bad practices, the diving industry will die off in Taiwan over the next ten to fifteen years as there will be nothing to see."
Gray is trying to do something about the situation. He and other foreign and Taiwanese dive instructors organize clean up days in Kenting twice a year, in May and September.
"We go down and clean up the reef, collecting non bio-degradable objects such as plastic, glass, metal, old fishing nets and lines. Non-divers help by cleaning up the beaches and assisting the divers out of the water."
"Taiwan desperately needs to create proper marine parks before it is too late. The one they just opened 450 kilometres southwest of Taiwan [the Dongsha Atoll National Park ] is a joke. They should start with Kenting and then go on to Orchid Island and Green Island , then Penghu and Siaoliouciou. All of these places are being steadily fished out by local fishermen using gill nets, scuba divers who spear fish and aquarists collecting fish and corals for marine aquariums. That, combined with pollution and the dying-off of corals due to a high nitrate count, due to untreated sewage being dumped into the ocean, is causing massive choking weed growth and algae which is damaging the corals."
"If the powers that be do not take action to curtail the above bad practices, the diving industry will die off in Taiwan over the next ten to fifteen years as there will be nothing to see."
Gray is trying to do something about the situation. He and other foreign and Taiwanese dive instructors organize clean up days in Kenting twice a year, in May and September.
"We go down and clean up the reef, collecting non bio-degradable objects such as plastic, glass, metal, old fishing nets and lines. Non-divers help by cleaning up the beaches and assisting the divers out of the water."
Saturday, March 15, 2008
A Victim Of Its Own Success
A few days ago, the China Post published an article on Shue Jian Forest Recreation Area by Richard Saunders. The final two paragraphs highlight a problem faced by many eco-tourism attractions around the world:
"And then the cars started coming. First a couple, then whole convoys of them clutching those pesky mountain permits, all belching out choking exhaust fumes and shattering the peace of this rare place... it was hard not to consider the fate of this pristine slice of wilderness, now that it's been opened up to the car-driving masses."
"That ranger's verbal attack on us and poor Gem [the dog Saunders and his friend had tried to take into the reserve] back at the visitor center had seemed strangely overzealous at the time, but now I think I understand better. The rules were written to allow him to keep pet dogs from destroying the pristine beauty of Shue Jian; sadly, however, he has no control over the crowds of noisy day trippers that seem destined to ruin this special place, now that it's reopened once more."
There are some possible solutions.
One is a simple quota, limiting the number of visitors to X per day or per week. But, as far as I understand it, the Forestry Bureau depends on visitors to the recreation areas it runs to subsidize its other operations, which include reforestation.
Another approach would be to ban cars from entering the reserve, instead providing a free shuttle bus. This kind of thing has been done in some other places in Taiwan, but only during exceptionally busy periods, such as the Yangmingshan Flower Festival. Rather than build parking lots halfway up the mountain, the shuttle bus should run from the nearest train station, to encourage people to take public transportation the whole way.
"And then the cars started coming. First a couple, then whole convoys of them clutching those pesky mountain permits, all belching out choking exhaust fumes and shattering the peace of this rare place... it was hard not to consider the fate of this pristine slice of wilderness, now that it's been opened up to the car-driving masses."
"That ranger's verbal attack on us and poor Gem [the dog Saunders and his friend had tried to take into the reserve] back at the visitor center had seemed strangely overzealous at the time, but now I think I understand better. The rules were written to allow him to keep pet dogs from destroying the pristine beauty of Shue Jian; sadly, however, he has no control over the crowds of noisy day trippers that seem destined to ruin this special place, now that it's reopened once more."
There are some possible solutions.
One is a simple quota, limiting the number of visitors to X per day or per week. But, as far as I understand it, the Forestry Bureau depends on visitors to the recreation areas it runs to subsidize its other operations, which include reforestation.
Another approach would be to ban cars from entering the reserve, instead providing a free shuttle bus. This kind of thing has been done in some other places in Taiwan, but only during exceptionally busy periods, such as the Yangmingshan Flower Festival. Rather than build parking lots halfway up the mountain, the shuttle bus should run from the nearest train station, to encourage people to take public transportation the whole way.
Increasing ticket prices so visitor numbers fall might also work. However, I believe that the more people experience nature, the more they will care about it. This isn't always the case, of course: Many Taiwanese farmers, who've been immersed in nature since they were born, have a shocking attitude to the environment.
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