Hoping to calm a storm over the construction of an exhibition hall, President Chen Shui-bian (
"To fight for the economy is the government's primary goal, which should neither lead to controversy among the grassroots nor raise conflict between the central and local governments," Chen told Cabinet members yesterday at the Presidential Office.
"I hope that the Executive Yuan can make a final decision on the project as soon as possible," Chen said. "The only standard to be used in the government's evaluation should be the interests of the country, while I also expect that county and city chiefs involved in the project can put their emotions aside and discuss the matter with the Cabinet rationally."
The Cabinet-level Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) recently said that the government will re-evaluate the exhibition hall project, which was originally planned for Taipei City's Nankang District, stating that a location in Sanhsia Township, Taipei County, may be a better site.
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and many opposition lawmakers accused the DPP government of following only party interests.
They also warned that changing the site would waste valuable resources, which the central government has already used to build infrastructure for the economic and trade park in Nankang.
Blue-camp politicians said the government's motives for choosing Taipei County were to snub Ma and reward DPP County Commissioner Su Tseng-chang (
However, Taoyuan County Com-missioner Chu Chu Li-lun (朱立倫) of the KMT asked Premier Yu Shyi-kun late Wednesday night to support his county's plan to build the exhibition center at the designated site of the High Speed Railway station which will serve CKS International Airport.
CEPD Vice Chairman Chang Jin-sheng (張景森) was summoned to brief Chen on the dispute yesterday.
Chang told the media after the meeting that the president was concerned about the CEPD's reasons for rejecting the Nankang site. Chang said the public seemed to misunderstand the council's intent.
"The CEPD did not suggest choosing a new site for the Nankang exhibition hall," Chang said. "We just re-evaluated whether to adopt another measure for building it."
Vice Premier Lin Hsin-i (林信義) held a press conference yesterday evening to explain the government's position, saying that the Nankang exhibition hall project has never changed.
"The ministry's original plan was to build a three-in-one complex -- an exhibition hall, a hotel and a shopping mall -- based on a build-operate-transfer system," Lin said. "But the plan failed to attract the interest of the private sector because of a slow economy.
"The government then decided to change its plan.
"As a result, the Ministry of Economic Affairs will in two months decide whether the government should build the project on its own or seek private investors to jointly accomplish it," he said.
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