After seven years of planning and construction, the world's tallest building, Taipei 101, held its grand opening yesterday, presided over by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
"Taipei 101 is the new indicator of Taiwan's prosperity, and a new symbol of national unity," Chen said at the opening ceremony.
With construction beginning in January 1998, the 508m skyscraper surpassed Malaysia's Petronas Towers as the world's tallest building in October last year.
Taipei 101 management will open an observation deck on the 89th floor of the building on Jan. 19. Admission is NT$350, with a concession rate of NT$320 and group tickets available at NT$300 per person.
Diana Chen (陳敏薰), chairwoman of the Taipei Financial Center, which owns the building, said Taipei 101 has set a series of records, including the world's tallest structure, the world's biggest and heaviest tuned mass damper and the world's fastest elevator, moving up to 1,010m per minute.
"Therefore, we will provide the world's No.1 service to our customers," she said at the ceremony.
But it seems that the building, with 58,000 ping of office space to let out, is yet to boast the No.1 occupancy rate.
Taipei Financial Center officials said occupancy for the building's office space was at 33 percent, the same figure announced by the company in April. Rental in the world's highest building averages at NT$3,200 per ping per month.
Taipei Financial Center president Harace Lin (林鴻明) said the largest tenant thus far is the Taiwan Stock Exchange, which is scheduled to move in during June. He declined to name other tenants, only saying that four companies will start preparing their offices this month. The first opening of an office will be next month at the earliest, he said.
Potential tenants include the China Development Industrial Bank, Chinatrust Commercial Bank, Cathay Life Insurance and Taishin International Bank, all of whom are Taipei 101 shareholders.
Despite a tepid market response, Lin was still optimistic, saying the company needed 17 to 18 years to break even, which he said was a short period of time considering the size and value of the property.
The 101-story tower is designed to absorb temblors above seven on the Richter scale and one-in-100-year gales.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
GREATER REACH? Auto parts and wood products would face tariffs of up to 15%, matching those targeting the EU, Japan and South Korea, Vice Premier said The US has announced that preferential tariff treatment for Taiwan’s non-semiconductor Section 232 goods would take effect retroactively from May 1, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The US government yesterday posted a notice on the Federal Register’s public inspection Web site previewing tariff concessions for Taiwan under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Taiwan-US investment after two months of negotiations. The MOU signed on Jan. 15 stipulated three major preferential tariff arrangements: a 15 percent “reciprocal” tariff rate for Taiwan without stacking most-favored nation (MFN) rates; preferential Section 232 treatment for semiconductors and related products; and preferential Section 232 treatment for non-semiconductor
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
RSS