The Taipei City Government’s current contract with Farglory Land Development Co (遠雄建設) for the construction of the Taipei Dome is “ridiculous,” Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday.
“I think this contract is simply ridiculous,” Ko said. “How could it be possible to draft a contract that we have absolutely no way of defending?”
He said that under the contract, the stadium complex should have been completed by June last year.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
While the firm was granted a one-time extension by the previous municipal administration, it has been in violation of the contract since a deadline passed last month, he added.
However, under the contract, “nothing can be done” to punish the firm for project delays, Ko said.
The mayor’s remarks follow statements by Farglory last week that construction of the site could be delayed past the date of the 2017 Universiade if the city does not go through with a controversial tunnel linking the project with the National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall.
The firm said that the tunnel is intended as an evacuation route, but the plan has sparked criticism from the mayor for its “strange design,” with the capital deciding on Friday last week to delay the tunnel’s opening while officials review other options.
Ko has previously described Farglory’s statements about further potential construction delays as “blackmail,” promising to relocate the Universiade’s opening and closing ceremonies to the Taipei Gymnasium if the Taipei Dome site is unavailable.
When asked how he intended to respond to Farglory’s contract violations, the mayor yesterday said that he ordered the municipality’s Department of Legal Affairs to thoroughly research the capital’s legal options, while stopping short of saying Taipei would consider terminating the firm’s contract.
Ko’s dispute with Farglory is the largest of several with firms over projects on municipal land, including the Taipei New Horizon (臺北文創) building in the Songshan Cultural Park and the MeHAS City (美河市) development project next to the Xiaobitan MRT station.
“If we feel contractual terms are unreasonable, we will raise our hands in protest,” he said yesterday.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique