Taipei City's street landscape is about to experience a facelift as the winner of the "Taipei City Street Furniture Design" project vowed to build a new city image in a different style within two years.
The change in Taipei's street landscape is one of Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) municipal construction promises.
In an effort to beautify the city's landscape with a special stylistic flair, Mayor Ma would like to see a renewal of the city's streets, including the reconstruction of all bus stop waiting areas, trash cans and bicycle racks.
Street furniture
About eight months into the public bidding process, OmniAd Media Corp won a 12-year operation license late Friday night, and will need to finish renovating 85 percent of "street furniture" in 13 major routes over the next 10 months.
The 13 major roads include Zhongxiao E Rd, Zhongxiao W Rd, Renai Road, Heping E Rd, Hoping W Rd, Zhongshan N Rd, Zhongshan S Road, Fuxing N Rd and Fuxing S Rd.
Public review
According to the city's Economic Development Department, the project committee completed the review on Friday
OmniAd will be able to sign the contract with the city government within a month after the announcement is made.
The department will require the corporation to display their full-sized design models to the public for a period of two weeks.
All residents will be given the opportunity to provide feedback to the city government about the designs.
Afterward, the committee of the urban design department will do a final review of the models.
Ming dynasty style
OmniAd Vice president Lin Yan-ying (
Lin added that the corporation will also make sure the refurbishments are user-friendly and improve the quality of life for the residents of Taipei.
In addition to the bus stop waiting areas and bicycle racks that will be redesigned, transfer area waiting rooms, sightseeing map guide signs and video phones will be installed within two years.
Urban design
The urban-design project, which many advertising media companies have perceived as a great profit-making opportunity, attracted both local and international advertising companies to compete for the operating license.
The Urban Development Department opened the first bidding in January, and OmniAd won after two failed biddings.
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