[3135] Wuta indigenous residents protest new highway project for fear of mudslide

Wuta indigenous residents protest new tunnel excavation for fear of mudslide

Reported by Chiou Kuo-rong

Written by Lydia Ma

The Suhua Highway Improvement Project is a plan to improve dangerous sections of the Suhua Highway and construction of a 38.4 km long road began in January 2011 in Heping, Hualien. However, indigenous residents living in Nan-ao, Yilan are concerned that Wuta Tunnel, a tunnel to be built near their reservation, will compromise their safety. They blasted the government for failing to consult any local residents in prior environmental assessments for this project.

Wuta residents recently established a self-help committee headed by Atayal Presbytery’s Wuta Presbyterian Church. The church has begun circulating a petition calling for an immediate halt to the construction to the tunnel and has also urged the government not to violate any existing laws, especially the Aboriginal Basic Act, and find a safer route for all.

“Does the government think that the Aboriginal Basic Act is a piece of garbage? It clearly doesn’t respect us – indigenous peoples!” said Wuta Church’s pastor, Rev. Meryang Hayung, angrily, adding that the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) acted unilaterally when it passed an environmental assessment without consulting the township’s mayor and indigenous residents.

Meryang Mayung underscored that Atayal indigenous groups have the basic right to life and security that the government cannot take away by serving them with a mere notice of construction. She recounted that a few government representatives had arrived at their reservation on the evening of March 13, 2012 to convene a meeting and explain the details of the construction project near their area. Since indigenous residents in Wuta were completely unaware of this project, they asked the MOTC to gather some more information for them and schedule another meeting to discuss this issue further. However, despite their opinions and objections, digging and construction work began the following day.

According to this indigenous self-help committee, Wuta is prone to frequent earthquakes and a hot spot for yearly typhoons. Though indigenous local residents are not expert geologists, they know the land well and they are aware of its fragile bedrock and the shifting of the stratum beneath their feet. The area’s mountains cannot withstand the building of tunnels and local residents fear that mudslides as result of erosion of the land will turn their hometown into another Hsiao-Lin Village.

The committee has vowed to fight this project to the very end and its petition demands that the government respect the Aboriginal Basic Act, halt all construction until indigenous residents agree that it can resume, and reroute the project to safer grounds.