Following the closure of the 42-year-old baseball stadium in downtown Taipei, the Taipei City Government has moved into high gear preparing for the construction of a multi-functional domed stadium at the same site.
After listening to a briefing presented by the firm responsible for designing the project yesterday, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
"Since there would be only 1,700 parking spaces available, the Bureau of Transportation and Communications needs to draw up a comprehensive plan in terms of traffic control and transportation networks," Ma said, adding that it may take at least eight years for the MRT Sungshan lin extension to be completed.
According to Stand Lo (
The reason for not providing more parking spaces, Lo said, is to encourage the public to take advantage of the mass transportation system to go to the stadium.
Ma also requested extra attention be paid to fire safety.
"The Fire Department of Taipei needs to work together with the National Fire Administration (
According to the design company, the smoke control and escape systems follow the fire codes and standards set by the US-based National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), in which the escape time allowed for a person in a 15,000-seat facility is five minutes.
Ma also pledged to make recommendations to the central government to change current laws in terms of allowing the establishment of shops within a sports stadium.
With the stadium's demolition slated to take place in December, the 30-month, NT$3.8 billion construction project is scheduled to begin in March next year. The stadium, which is designed to be a multi-functional venue for musical, artistic and sporting events, is expected to become operational in March 2003.
The road to building a domed stadium in Taipei has been a long and bumpy one. An initial proposal to build one new venue has now grown to three -- a 15,000-seat "mini domed stadium" at the location of the baseball stadium, a 25,000-seat facility at the Sungshan Tobacco Factory in the Sungshan district, and a 65,000-seat facility in Kuantu, Peitou district.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary