Property developers and brokers yesterday voiced regret over the Supreme Administrative Court’s ruling against an urban renewal project in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義), saying the decision would discourage similar ventures even if they have government support.
The highest administrative court on Wednesday rejected an appeal by the Taipei City Government and the project’s initiator, Sen Yeh Construction Co (森業營造), annulling the Yongchun Community (永春) renewal project in line with the Taiwan High Court decision last year.
Real Estate Development Association of Taipei chairman Chen Chun-tung (陳春銅) said the judicial rejection sounded the death knell for urban renewal projects, which are not only time-consuming, but can be reversed even after policymakers give them the go-ahead.
The 16-year-old renewal project involves 126 owners, three of whom withheld their consent because of evaluation and procedural differences after the city government issued the permit in 2014.
The dissenters sought judicial recourse and won, after the builder tore down their apartments last year, supported by those in favor of renewal and tacit agreement from the city government.
“The ruling is like a slap in the face of the government and will scare away developers from taking on urban renewal projects as long as there is one single protester,” Chen said.
Chen, who is also the chairman of Liangmao Construction Co (良茂建設) and honorary chairman of Grand Mayfull Hotel Taipei (美福飯店), said the industry is at a loss about whether to trust the government’s authority on the matter.
The case brings to mind another controversial urban renewal project, Wenlin Yuan (文林苑) in Taipei’s Shilin District (士林), whose fate has been in limbo for years due to resistance by the Wang (王) family, Chinatrust Real Estate Co (中信房屋) vice chairman Richard Liu (劉天仁) said.
With the Yonghcun Community project coming to an abrupt halt following the ruling, it would have to start all over again if the initiator and owners decide to press ahead, Liu said.
“The court’s decision shows uncertainty and risks are high for urban renewal projects, with emotional appeals often taking precedence over professional opinions during the discussions,” Liu said.
He added that the public would lose confidence and patience in urban renewal, although a recent poll by the broker found that more than 80 percent of people would like to participate in such ventures to enhance building safety and living quality.
The building materials and construction stock index — a gauge of the nation’s property sector — fell 0.3 percent in trading yesterday, while the TAIEX dropped 0.47 percent, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the