The Council for Cultural Affairs (文建會) yesterday said that the Cabinet's support for a Guggenheim Museum in Taichung had not wavered despite rumors it would back away from the project, an official said.
The official also said the Cabinet would need more information before making a decision on whether to allocate the project an additional NT$2 billion as requested by Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (
The Cabinet had originally promised to give NT$3.2 billion toward the planned museum, with Taichung City Government stumping up the rest. The total project is estimated to cost NT$6.4 billion.
"If the Cabinet grants NT$5.2 billion then the nature of the Guggenheim project will be quite different from the original plan," said Chung Chia-pin (
Chung said that a larger share of the costs means more responsibilities and so far the Council for Cultural Affairs had not received a complete evaluation report from Taichung City Government.
"The central government and the local government should cooperate with each other in this project. I think it is necessary to work out further details about the plan together," Chung said. "If the Cabinet is to become the main backer of this project, then we need to know more about the project. We don't want to cancel it."
Taichung City Government accused the Cabinet of not inviting it to a conference held in late August discussing the possibly economic impacts of the museum.
"We did not invite any Taichung government officials to the conference because the conference focused on cultural issues and many academics from Taichung City were present," Chung said.
Chung said the cultural affairs council is happy to see the establishment of the Guggenheim Museum in Taichung, however the plans need to be reviewed carefully.
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