Delegates attending a financial panel yesterday engaged in heated discussion over how to dispose of state-owned land, with environmentalists pulling out all stops urging the reversal of decisions made at preparatory meetings.
Chen Man-li (
She said that state land, which belongs to the public, must not be used by government to facilitate private business development.
Her suggestion resulted in related decisions being put on hold until government agencies have the time to conduct further studies.
Sam Lin (林聖崇), head of the Ecology Conservation Alliance, urged the government to immediately cease the auctioning off or renting out of state land and suggested that the land be allocated to local governments for the establishment of national parks.
For example, parcels of land totaling 58,000 hectares owned by state-run Taiwan Sugar Corp should be retrieved for ecological purposes, he said.
His view was praised by former premier Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), who chaired the meeting.
However, considering the nation's widening deficit, Siew said it might be a long time before Lin's suggestion came true, but he instructed the environmentalist's opinion to be listed in the meeting record for the Cabinet's evaluation.
Several delegates also urged a review of the build-operate-transfer (BOT) mechanisms to prevent scandals.
Wen Ping-yuan (溫炳原), secretary-general of the Green Party Taiwan, said the company who won the bid to develop the Beitou cable car project in Taipei was expected to garner a whopping NT$9 billion (US$275 million) in 30-year revenues, but the land rental would cost only NT$200 million, raising doubts of collusion with the government unit in charge of the project.
Lo Chih-ming (羅志明), secretary-general of the Taiwan Solidarity Union, echoed his views, saying that the controversial electronic toll collection project was one example of the flawed BOT mechanism.
The conference concluded that public infrastructure projects valued at over NT$1 billion should be carefully reviewed with government units assessing internal and external cost-benefit analyses. A professional and fair selection mechanism should be established to encourage the participation of private firms.
As for the controversy surrounding taxation on warrants, the conference concluded that the Cabinet should discuss the issue with the Ministry of Finance and settle it as soon as possible. Warrants are certificates that give the bearer the right to buy securities, gold or other commodities at a stated price for a stated period or at any time in the future.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
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