The Director-general of the Water Resources Agency, Chien-Hsin Lai, inspected the dredging of Hualien River on the 3rd to understand the current situation of dredging and the capacity of the sand supply from the east to the north. Placing emphasis on the premise of ensuring the safety of flood-prevention work done on rivers, he instructed the 9th River Management Office to accelerate the dredging of additional volume to meet the demand of transporting sand from the east to the north so that there could be a stable supply of materials.
Director-general Lai stated that the Hualien area's dredging volume this year has reached 2.6 million tons and has surpassed the estimated volume when he inspected the dredging project of the Wuquan embankment section of the Hualien River with divided collection and selling parts. In addition to recognizing the efforts of our colleagues, he also requested that we should first stabilize the dredging volume at the end of the year and next year so that there will be no interruptions. He also requested to increase the dredging volume by 500,000 tons by the end of the year and to plan ahead for the dredging of various rivers in the jurisdiction that can be dredged, such as the Shoufeng River. Under the premise of ensuring the safety of flood-prevention work done on rivers and smooth drainage, the number of dredging areas will be increased to be in line with the Executive Yuan's policy of ceasing reliance on imported sand and gravel.
Kuo-Liang Wang, Commissioner of 9th River Management Office, said that the progress of dredging in its jurisdiction is ahead of schedule, and if needed, the number of sand and gravel plants that take delivery of the goods can be increased. The dredging volume can be increased by 500,000 tons by the end of this year. We have coordinated with the county government and are able to increase the dredging volume of the county-controlled river Liwu River by 260,000 tons. Sending sand from the east to the north is capable of meeting the shortage caused by the suspension of importing natural sand from China. The Bureau of Mines reports that there is still a significant amount of sand and gravel in the Hualien jurisdiction. The volume of sand sent from the east to the north has remained stable for the past three years. The Hualien area has an adequate volume from dredging and the price is stable. The Office will continue to review the situation on a rolling basis, strengthen flood control preparations, actively handle river dredging and cooperate with the policy to provide a stable source of sand and gravel.