Despite protests from local residents and a lawsuit, the Ministry of National Defense will start construction work tomorrow on its new office building in Tachih near Navy General Headquarters.
Officials made the announcement at the ministry's weekly press conference yesterday.
The news was not welcomed by area residents, who have complained that the four-year-long project will seriously affect their living environment because a key road will be blocked off during construction.
Ministry spokesman Major General Huang Suey-sheng (
Under the circumstances, the ministry has not invited the press to cover a ceremony tomorrow to mark the start of construction. Minister of National Defense Tang Yao-ming (
The construction project -- codenamed "Bo-Ai" -- has been snarled with problems from its very beginning back in 1998.
Construction should have begun over two years ago. But legal disputes over the land have held it up. The ministry bought the land from civilians three decades ago but it did not complete the land title transfer process at that time. Some of the original owners apparently took advantage of the incomplete paperwork to sell the land to others. Others demanded more money from the ministry.
In order to get the project off the ground, the ministry tried to privately settle its legal disputes with those original land owners. The efforts did not succeed, prompting the ministry to file a lawsuit, which is ongoing.
The office building is due to be completed in 2008 at a cost of NT$13.3 billion.
Ministry armaments bureau Director Pang Yu-tung (
"The building will also be defended against electro-magnetic pulse attacks and protected by anti-aircraft missiles," Pang said.
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