Apartment complexes and buildings with steel bars over the windows, loose cables or advertisements on exterior walls could face fines of up to NT$100,000 starting next year after the Taipei City Government yesterday promulgated new regulations on the appearance of buildings in an attempt to improve the city’s landscape.
The city government proposed a municipal regulation on the management of the city’s landscape, demanding apartment complexes or building owners apply to the city government and follow the regulations before putting up window frames, air conditioners or ads on exterior walls of buildings.
Existing steel bar window frames or other facilities on exterior walls should be taken down or modified to conform with the regulations.
Residents who violate the regulations will face fines ranging from NT$6,000 to NT$100,000.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday said he expected the new regulations to reshape the cityscape and turn Taipei into a beautiful city.
“Taipei City is moving ahead of the central government to establish a regulation on city landscape,” Hau said at Taipei City Hall yesterday.
“We are confident that Taipei will be more beautiful in the future,” he said.
Ting Yu-chun (丁育群), commissioner of the city’s Department of Urban Development, said the department would prioritize improving the appearance of buildings on major roads that are more than 30m wide, such as Zhongxiao E Road.
Areas near parks and major tourist attractions, such as the Confucius Temple or the National Palace Museum, would also fall under the program.
As for old apartments and buildings in small alleys, Ting said the city government would encourage apartment management offices to send in appearance renewal plans and the city government would provide subsidies for necessary appearance-renewal work.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS