An investigation should be launched into the appraisal process of all MRT joint development projects, members of Taipei City Government’s Clean Government Committee said yesterday as they announced the preliminary results of an investigation into the MeHAS City (美河市) and Syntrend Creative Park (三創園區) development projects.
Clean Government Committee member Hsu Chin-huang (徐嶔煌) said that the committee’s investigation had revealed why city-owned land had been undervalued in the appraisal process used to divide profits for the MeHAS City joint development project.
The city is in mediation with the site’s developer, Radium Life Tech Co (日勝生), seeking NT$7.6 billion (US$242 million) in compensation over alleged appraisal fraud.
Photo: Weng Yu-huang, Taipei Times
Hsu said that city land was undervalued because of illegal appraisal rules determined by the Department of Rapid Transportation Systems (DORTS), on whose land the project was constructed.
In estimating future land value, the department simply added bank interest to the appraised value of the land when project construction began, failing to take into account rapidly increasing real-estate prices, he said.
Because similar methodology was widely used by DORTS, a broader investigation into all other DORTS joint development projects should be undertaken, he said.
Committee member Wang Hsiao-yu (王小玉) called for the mediation process to be halted and project land returned to the site’s original owners, adding that she spoke only for herself because the committee’s final recommendations conclusions are still under discussion.
She also said the committee’s investigation had revealed that the main responsibility for the debacle lay with DORTS rather than former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌).
In response to the committee’s findings, Taipei City Councilor Kao Chia-yu (高嘉瑜) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) repeated demands that the city government make public all documents on the division of profits for DORTS joint development projects.
She said the MeHAS case demonstrated that the department could easily abuse its discretion in such cases, adding that making the negotiation process transparent would help the city in its bargaining by subjecting contracting firms to the pressure of public opinion.
DORTS joint development division head Li Cheng-an (李政安) said that while the department’s past actions were legal, it would seek to move the date used for appraisal of land value as close as possible to the completion of construction to ensure profit-sharing more closely reflected market changes, adding that the department had also made its appraisal process more rigorous.
He added that releasing documents relating to ongoing profit-sharing negotiations would be unwise because it could weaken the city’s position if litigation ensued.
Meanwhile, Syntrend Creative Park subcommittee convener Ma Yi-kung (馬以工) said the commission’s probe had found the project to be ridden with procedural problems.
She said the site’s zoning was problematic, at it was registered as a “parking garage” in a technology district and that its “add-on” technology complex was far larger than the “main” parking garage used for official registration.
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
FORCED LABOR: A US court listed three Taiwanese and nine firms based in Taiwan in its indictment, with eight of the companies registered at the same address Nine companies registered in Taiwan, as well as three Taiwanese, on Tuesday were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) as a result of a US federal court indictment. The indictment unsealed at the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, said that Chen Zhi (陳志), a dual Cambodian-British national, is being indicted for fraud conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding Group’s forced-labor scam camps in Cambodia. At its peak, the company allegedly made US$30 million per day, court documents showed. The US government has seized Chen’s noncustodial wallet, which contains
SUPPLY CHAIN: Taiwan’s advantages in the drone industry include rapid production capacity that is independent of Chinese-made parts, the economic ministry said The Executive Yuan yesterday approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion (US$1.44 billion) into domestic production of uncrewed aerial vehicles over the next six years, bringing Taiwan’s output value to more than NT$40 billion by 2030 and making the nation Asia’s democratic hub for the drone supply chain. The proposed budget has NT$33.8 billion in new allocations and NT$10.43 billion in existing funds, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Under the new development program, the public sector would purchase nearly 100,000 drones, of which 50,898 would be for civil and government use, while 48,750 would be for national defense, it said. The Ministry of
COOPERATION: Taiwan is aligning closely with US strategic objectives on various matters, including China’s rare earths restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan could deal with China’s tightened export controls on rare earth metals by turning to “urban mining,” a researcher said yesterday. Rare earth metals, which are used in semiconductors and other electronic components, could be recovered from industrial or electronic waste to reduce reliance on imports, National Cheng Kung University Department of Resources Engineering professor Lee Cheng-han (李政翰) said. Despite their name, rare earth elements are not actually rare — their abundance in the Earth’s crust is relatively high, but they are dispersed, making extraction and refining energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, he said, adding that many countries have opted to