The protesters chanted slogans and held placards highlighting their appeal for the “Losheng” (Happy Life) sanatorium, which was built in 1932 by the Japanese, who ruled Taiwan until 1945.

The sanatorium still houses 45 elderly lepers who refuse to move. Developers plan to knock down the remaining 13-hectare (32-acre) facilities, after some 17 hectares had already been taken away for the construction of a maintenance depot for the Hsinchuang MRT line in the Greater Taipei area.

Scholars and protesters, including several foreign nationals, joined the rally in the area of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Park and the plaza in front of the Presidential Office.

They wanted the sanatorium to be preserved as an ancient site in the new form of the “Losheng Human Rights Cultural Park.”

Faced with mounting pressure against the demolition, Premier Su Tseng-chang promised further deliberations last week on activists’ demands that 90 percent of the facilities be preserved.

Su also agreed that the deadline for the leveling the facilities, previously slated for today, would be postponed for two months.

Yet many Hsinchuang residents and some lepers who formerly lived in the sanatorium strongly support the MRT line under construction. They recently also staged a demonstration demanding that government stick to its plan to complete the project to improve transport and economic development in the region.

They criticized the government’s flip-flop for causing unnecessary delays, due to the refusal of a few lepers — less than 50 of the sanatorium’s 300 remaining sufferers — to move to the new apartments built for them by the government.

Hsinchuang residents say further delays would cost another NT$3 billion, on top of the planned NT$175 billion project.

The lepers’ supporters say Hsinchuang residents have been misled and that some local government chiefs have financial interests in the project.

They said they want to achieve a win-win result by conserving the facilities but also allowing the construction of the MRT depot.

Citing a government report, the activists said up to 90 percent of the premises could be preserved in a proposal that would cost only an additional NT$290 million and result in a four-month delay.

Chen Mei-lin, a spokesperson for Premier Su, said the Cabinet will try its best to meet the protesters’ demands.

Chan Chi-teh, chief of the Taipei City Government’s Department of Rapid Transit System (DORTS), which is responsible for building the MRT system, said passengers’ safety is the primary concern of his department.

Chan said he personally holds no insistence on the specific ratio of the premises to be used. But the safety of passengers and the whole MRT system should be given top priority.

Since Premier Su has instructed the Public Construction Commission under the Cabinet to conduct a new feasibility on revising the route and location for the depot, the DORTS will now wait for the final decision from the Cabinet, Chan said.

He said the construction at the 50 percent completed project has already been delayed for three years by the sanatorium controversy.

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