Does standardized high-tech park development fit diverse environmental conditions: Environmental challenges in building Central Taiwan Science Park

The increase in high-tech electronic development coupled with the economic boom in Taiwan in the 1990s, has led to the rapid establishment of high-tech parks. These parks were designated for promoting Taiwanese electronic industries and driving national economic development. To achieve the goal of continuous development and long-term competitive advantage of high-tech industries, the government has accelerated its plans to develop and construct high-tech parks by establishing a high-tech corridor in western Taiwan. Many countries (particularly in the developing world) are eager to follow the Taiwanese model of building public infrastructure to support development of the electronic industry. Nevertheless, this paper hopes to draw attention to the neglect of local environmental conditions, which may not always fit the fixed and enormous resource demand of high-tech park development. This paper analyzes the environmental disputes emerging from the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process of the third phase of the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP), the latest high-tech park development in Taiwan, and explores their policy implication. It argues that standardized high-tech development procedures, which lack flexibility in terms of high natural resource demands, may negatively impact the complex, natural, and cyclic environment and agriculture surrounding a proposed development site. In light of this, we recommend policy reform to carefully examine environmental impacts with a holistic and preventive approach.