Taipei must do more to encourage urban renewal, as it has about 600,000 residential units that are more than 30 years old, but only about 36,000 have been put into urban renewal projects, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday at a forum held by the Taipei Department of Urban Development.
Participants in the forum held a moment of silence in tribute to the victims of last Tuesday’s magnitude 6.0 earthquake in Hualien, which killed 16 people, injured 285 and left one person missing.
Although many people are concerned about the effects of a major earthquake on buildings and related urban renewal issues, the forum did not aim to focus on disaster prevention, but on effective urban renewal policy, Ko said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The city government in 2010 initiated a special project aimed at renewing old four-story or five-story apartment buildings by allowing the property owners to exchange “one ping” [3.3m2] for one ping” of a renewed building, but as of 2015, only three of 79 project applications had been approved and were under way, which indicated that the city’s policies needed to be overhauled, he said.
“The urban renewal policy has to change drastically, or else it would take more than 1,000 years to finish,” he said.
Urban renewal projects in Yongchun Community (永春) and Datong District’s (大同) Siwen Borough (斯文) are important milestones of the city’s urban renewal efforts, he said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
However, the two cases were complicated, and the Yongchun Community project was stalled for 16 years, although construction there was expected to resume this week, while the Siwen project is expected to begin in May, the mayor said.
Property owners who are unwilling to participate in urban renewal projects is a national problem, but the old apartments should be entered into the process as soon as possible, hopefully within the next 10 years, he said.
In the meantime, the city will promote the importance of urban renewal in improving disaster prevention, he said.
GEOPOLITICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The CGA’s nonmilitary role makes it a tool to avert diplomatic issues, an official said, while confirming the donation of a ship to Manila Coast Guard Administration (CGA) ships are scheduled to sail to the Philippines bearing the words “Taiwan Coast Guard” in a high-profile visit in October next year, the first such visit by a Taiwanese maritime law enforcement vessel to the Southeast Asian nation, the agency said yesterday. The CGA also confirmed that it had donated one of its decommissioned patrol vessels to the Philippines in a rare transfer of a retired ship to a nondiplomatic ally. The Republic of China (ROC) Navy last made such a visit in 1974, shortly before the Philippines switched diplomatic recognition to the People’s Republic of China in
SOFT TENNIS: Yu Kai-wen and Huang Shih-yuan narrowly defeated their Japanese rivals to capture Taiwan’s first gold at the Asian Games in Nagoya Yu Kai-wen (余凱文) and Huang Shih-yuan (黃詩媛) won Taiwan’s first gold of this year’s Asian Games, defeating a Japanese duo in a nail-biter in the soft tennis mixed doubles final in Nagoya, Japan, while Johnny Sun (孫家閎) won silver in wushu and Shih Cheng-chung (石政中) won bronze in men’s kumite. Yu and Huang narrowly defeated Japan’s Toshiki Uematsu and Rena Temma 5-4 (2-4, 5-3, 4-2, 1-4, 1-4, 4-0, 1-4, 4-1, 7-5) to give Taiwan its first gold in soft tennis mixed doubles at an Asian Games since 2018. Sun secured Taiwan’s first wushu medal at this year’s game, with a combined score
CALL FOR CHANGE: They urged the UN to facilitate Taiwan’s involvement in the body, recognize its peace efforts and to work with members in preventing military conflict Representatives to the UN from five of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies sent a joint letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday, calling for the country’s inclusion in the body. Allies in the letter sent ahead of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly General Debate made three demands in support of Taiwan: inclusion, recognition and camaraderie. They implored the UN to seek an appropriate way to facilitate Taiwan’s meaningful involvement in the world governing body, saying that UN Resolution 2758, which accepted the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as a member of the UN, does not exclude Taiwan. Beijing claims that the
WASHINGTON MEETING: Japan’s Hirofumi Takinami said participants rejected the idea that the US should limit its defensive perimeter to the Second Island Chain US and Japanese lawmakers agree that the US must defend the First Island Chain, including Taiwan, and should not fall back to the Second Island Chain, while “a Taiwan contingency is a Japan contingency and therefore a US-Japan alliance contingency,” media reported after a meeting between officials of the two nations in Washington on Tuesday. A delegation of Japanese lawmakers from the Liberal Democratic Party met with US Senator Thom Tillis, co-chair of the Senate Taiwan Caucus, and US Representative Ami Bera, co-chair of the US Congressional Taiwan caucus, to discuss issues concerning East Asia and the Taiwan Strait. The Japanese and
RSS