Minister of Finance Chang Sheng-ford (張盛和) yesterday said the ministry has decided to keep the current sales ban on state-owned plots of land of less than 500 ping (1,653m2) in Taipei.
For land in New Taipei City (新北市), the ministry intends to maintain the current policy of banning such sales in general, but proposed sales would be considered on a case by case basis, Chang added.
“Through various studies and surveys, the ministry has decided to keep the current restrictions for sales of state-owned land,” Chang told a media briefing.
SUFFICIENT SUPPLY
The ministry initiated the discussion on whether to lift of the sales ban on smaller plots of land last month, as it aims to balance the challenge of maintaining a sufficient supply of land to counter high real-estate prices and increasing revenue for the state’s coffers.
Chang asked the National Property Administration to review the pros and cons by collecting opinions from representatives of related industries and land economists, either in person or by questionnaire.
After reviewing different opinions, Chang said lifting the sales ban may not bring in a large amount of financial return, with expected income standing between NT$4 billion (US$136.32 million) and NT$8 billion a year.
In addition, previous auctions of state-owned land became a benchmark for average house prices in nearby areas, he added.
PROPERTY SPECULATION
The ministry banned the sale of state-owned land in March 2010 to avoid aggravating rampant property speculation in the Greater Taipei area and cause price gouging among construction firms.
The ministry has submitted the report to the Cabinet with the suggestion of maintaining the current sales ban on state-owned land, Chang said, adding that the Cabinet may finalize the proposal “very soon.”
In related news, the ministry is scheduled to start discussing the implementation of an energy tax in November and hopes to come up with a draft proposal by early next year, before lawmakers start to review the draft bill in the first half of next year at the earliest, Chang said.
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves fell below the US$600 billion mark at the end of last month, with the central bank reporting a total of US$596.89 billion — a decline of US$8.6 billion from February — ending a three-month streak of increases. The central bank attributed the drop to a combination of factors such as outflows by foreign institutional investors, currency fluctuations and its own market interventions. “The large-scale outflows disrupted the balance of supply and demand in the foreign exchange market, prompting the central bank to intervene repeatedly by selling US dollars to stabilize the local currency,” Department of Foreign
Intel Corp is joining Elon Musk’s long-shot effort to develop semiconductors for Tesla Inc, Space Exploration Technologies Corp and xAI, marking a surprising twist in the chipmaker’s comeback bid. Intel would help the Terafab project “refactor” the technology in a chip factory, the company said on Tuesday in a post on X, Musk’s social media platform. That is a stage in the development process that typically helps make chips more powerful or reliable. The chipmaker’s shares jumped 4.2 percent to US$52.91 in New York trading on Tuesday. The Terafab project is a grand plan by Musk to eventually manufacture his own chips for
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) yesterday said it plans to resume operations at two coal-fired power generators for three months to boost security of electricity supply as liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply risks are running high due to the Middle East conflict. The two coal-fired power generators are at Mailiao Power Plant in Yunlin County’s Mailiao Township (麥寮). The plant, operated by Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), supplied electricity to Taipower’s power grid until the end of last year. Taipower’s decision came about one month after Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) on March 10 said that the nation had no imminent
Some robotaxi passengers were left stranded in the middle of fast-moving traffic in a major Chinese city after their driverless vehicles stopped running, according to police and media reports on Wednesday. A preliminary investigation indicates more than 100 robotaxis came to a halt because of a “system malfunction,” police in the city of Wuhan said in a statement, without elaborating. No injuries were reported. One passenger told Chinese media that their robotaxi stopped after turning a corner. An instruction on a screen read: “Driving system malfunction. Staff are expected to arrive in 5 minutes.” After no one showed up, the passenger pushed
RSS