Taiwan Land Development Corp (TLDC, 台灣土地開發) aims to build more than 600 “green” homes in Hualien that will not be put on the market, but made available for purchase only to “qualified” members via an invitation.
“We will limit the sales of the apartments to members who share the same longing for a healthy lifestyle and the same appreciation for nature and the environment,” TLDC chairman Chiu Fu-sheng (邱復生) said at a media briefing in Hualien.
The media personality-turned-developer plans to invite 500 members nationally and abroad to be part oh the home project called “Sunrise Village.”
The village is to have of 637 furnished apartments on a 37,000 ping (122,100m2) plot of land in Hualien Bay (洄瀾灣), beginning at NT$10 million (US$301, 606), Chiu said.
It is the first time the concept of membership is to be used in local real-estate purchases, although the practice is commonplace in foreign markets, Chiu said.
About 100 artists, physicians, academics, entrepreneurs and in Taiwan and Hong Kong have expressed buying interest, Chiu said, adding that all potential buyers are subjected to a review by a standing committee to help guarantee the living quality of the complex.
TLDC has joined forces with UK engineering consultant firm ARUP, Danish architectural firm Bjarke Ingels Group, and Japanese information science professor Ken Sakamura in turning the undeveloped lot into a “smart” and “green” community.
There will be no light switches in Sunrise Village apartments. Owners can control their electronic, electrical and home appliances via handsets, tablets and personal computers, Chiu said.
People will be unaware of high-technology in future living spaces, as there will be no more “user controls,” Chiu said, citing Ken Sakamura.
Rather, residential functions are likely to be controlled through sensors on the Internet of Things, making life more convenient, the builder said.
The community is also to be built with smart meters and other energy-efficient devices and materials, allowing residents to cut electricity consumption by between 27 and 32 percent a year, compared with average residential buildings elsewhere in Taiwan, Chiu said.
TLDC has yet to finalize the pricing strategy for the vacation home project, which is part of a plan to develop a resort hotel, movie theaters, restaurants, retail stores and other commercial spaces in Hualien Bay.
The company plans to complete construction on the home project by 2017, after the Suhua Highway improvement project is finalized, Chiu said.
Shares in TLDC yesterday closed up 0.47 percent to NT$10.65 in Taipei trading, outpacing the TAIEX’s 0.11 percent rise, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce