Kaohsiung City Government Reaffirms: No Acceptance of Soil and Stone from Other Counties and Cities

(Central News Agency, reporter Tsai Meng-yu, Kaohsiung, 8th) Premier Cho Jung-tai inspected Kaohsiung on the 6th and stated that the capacity for soil disposal in the southern region is relatively abundant, expressing hope to expand the scope of soil reception. This drew skepticism from the Kuomintang (KMT), which questioned whether it would lead to accepting soil and stone from other counties and cities. The Kaohsiung City Government reiterated today that it will not accept soil and stone from other counties and cities.

During his inspection of the land reclamation and soil reception situation at Kaohsiung Port on the 6th, Premier Cho stated that the southern region currently has a relatively abundant overall capacity for soil disposal. However, he expressed hope to expand the scope of soil reception. Under the premise that reception capacity and the surrounding environment permit, he suggested further studying the inclusion of surplus soil and stone from private construction projects, in addition to accepting surplus soil from public engineering projects.

Premier Cho said the "Nansing Project" is a large-scale plan sufficient to handle soil disposal for many years to come, but the current priority is to ensure implementation intensity does not affect the surrounding environment.

Kaohsiung City Councilor Chen Li-na (KMT) issued a press release pointing out that soil disposal is originally planned and managed by each county and city. She questioned whether Premier Cho's statement implies that soil and stone from other counties and cities will be transported to the Nansing Project area in the future, calling such treatment of Kaohsiung "heartless."

Kaohsiung City Government spokesperson Sung Hsiang-yueh stated today that the Executive Yuan recognizes the Kaohsiung City Government's effective and concrete improvements in handling surplus construction soil and stone in the past period. He explained that the disposal model of the Nansing Project, in addition to accepting surplus soil and stone from public projects, has expanded to accept surplus soil and stone from private projects within Kaohsiung City, and its capacity is sufficient to meet future needs for many years.

Sung Hsiang-yueh said that the Kaohsiung City Government, in addition to strengthening management, reiterated that the Nansing Project is inherently limited to soil and stone from Kaohsiung City. Regarding the ongoing port area filling project, the city government emphasized that it will absolutely not accept soil and stone from other counties and cities. (Editor: Li Shu-hua) 1150608