[3100] PCT urges prayer as Taiwan’s last remaining natural coastline is threatened

PCT urges prayer as Taiwan’s last remaining natural coastline is threatened

Reported by Lin Yi-ying

Written by Lydia Ma

The plight to preserve Alangyi Trail, an 8km long ancient trail in Pingtung County and Taiwan’s last remaining untouched coastline, ended on a sad note on July 24, 2011, though 52,000 individuals and 828 organizations signed a petition that would have preserved Alangyi and turned it into a national nature reserve. At least 100,000 petitions were needed before the end of the day to validate this petition.

This ancient trail was established in the 1870s for indigenous tribes to travel along the coast and is Taiwan’s last remaining natural coastline. But for some time, the Ministry of Transportation (MOT) has been wanting to finish a highway network traversing the southern and eastern coasts of Taiwan. This highway known as Provincial Highway 26 – and dubbed “Nuclear Wastes Expressway” because of two nuclear disposal plants built by it– has so far been stalled because of a temporary nature reserve designation status.

But now that Alangyi’s special status has expired and the petition to designate it as a national nature reserve has failed, the future of Alangyi is in peril. Government studies list various reasons why it would benefit local residents and the MOT to complete Highway 26, such as boosting local tourism, reducing car journeys by 40 minutes, and facilitating the transportation of nuclear wastes to Taiwan’s east coast for disposal. But to date, these benefits are purely subjective and conjectural.

According to Rev. Fang Lan-ting, Taiwan Church News General Editor, reading and reference materials for “Don’t cry, Alangyi!” prayer meeting will be published by Taiwan Church News in time for a prayer meeting to be held on September 17, 2011. This prayer meeting is part of the “Lift up my eyes to the hills” prayer movement that began across PCT churches in 2010.