The development of the Central Taiwan Science Park's Houli branch in Miaoli County will remain suspended as the Supreme Administrative Court overruled Thursday an appeal filed by agencies under the Executive Yuan against a court ruling that temporarily suspended the project. However, the highest court of the country revoked another ruling by the Taipei High Administrative Court that halted the development of the science park's Erlin branch in Changhua County and instructed the lower court to reinvestigate the case. Yang Wen-ke, director-general of the park's administration, expressed surprise at the decision but declined to comment further as he had not received the court's written ruling. The Houli branch is the third phrase of the science park's expansion project. Most of the public facilities and infrastructure have been completed and some companies -- such as AU Optronics Corp. and Sunner Solar Co. -- had already begun production there. The Erlin branch is the fourth phase of the project and no companies have begun operating there. At the request of local environmentalists, the Taipei High Administrative Court ordered the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) , the National Science Council (NSC) and the Central Taiwan Science Park Administration (CTSPA) July 30 to suspend the development of both the Houli and the Erlin branches. The court ruled that environmental impact assessments had not been carried out properly and halted all work on the projects until new assessments could be made. On Aug. 9, the EPA, the NSC and the CTSPA filed appeals against the court orders. The Central Taiwan Science Park is one of three in Taiwan. Their total output is valued at NT$1.96 trillion per annum and their combined employment for 2007 was more than 200,000 people. 