"Give me a safe road home" has been a long-term appeal of Hualien and Taitung residents, and providing such a road is a fundamental goal of the project to improve the mountainous sections of the Suhua Highway (which is part of Provincial Highway No. 9), Premier Mao Chi-kuo stated today.
The premier said this at the Cabinet meeting after an update on the project, which was approved in December 2010. The plan takes social fairness and environmental impact into consideration, and its execution has ended disputes that had lasted for nearly two decades. This is a concrete example of the administration's resolution of a difficult issue and diffusion of crisis, the premier noted.
Since the project's groundbreaking near the Heping River bridge in January 2011, several tunnels have been successively bored, including the Wuta tunnel, which will be completed by April 11. The progress is heartening, and the premier commended the engineering staff of the Directorate General of Highways (DGH) under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC).
Nevertheless, the engineering teams have faced many challenges in the process, including rescues of Wuta and Hanben historic sites as well as landslides triggered by Typhoon Saola. High degrees of engineering risk and uncertainty also resulted in delays. As such, the premier instructed the MOTC to scrupulously supervise the DGH and its engineering teams in hopes of finishing the project on time and up to standard.
The MOTC stated that the Suhua Highway mountainous section improvement project covers 38.8 kilometers (km), including the 9.7 km section between Su-ao and Dong-ao, the 20 km section between Nan-ao and Heping, and the 9.1 km section between Hezhong and Daqingshui. The project spans from 2010 to 2017 with a budget of NT$49.2 billion (US$1.59 billion). The tunnels will adopt a "longitudinal with point extraction ventilation system" to institute comprehensive ventilation facilities and disaster-prevention mechanisms.
In accordance with pledges to the environmental impact assessment committee, the project will help improve railway facilities, allowing gravel transport to be transferred from trucks to trains. This is projected to decrease gravel trucks on the Suhua Highway by 30 percent north of Heren and 75 percent south of Heren, the MOTC stated.
Moreover, the project will create 1,200 job opportunities; 550 locals have already been hired. In addition, sales, restaurants and construction businesses in villages and townships along the route have increased dramatically thanks to the project, increasing local economic activity by NT$210 million (US$6.77 million).