Taipei City Councilor Lee Chin-yuan (李慶元), a New Party member, yesterday asked the city government's Building Administration Office (BAO) to fine the Presidential Office and the Executive Yuan for erecting huge promotions in front of their main buildings.
"They must be fined today or it will be very difficult to persuade me the BAO is playing fair. They should fine those responsible for illegal constructions, no matter who they are," Lee said.
Lee made his remarks in front of the Presidential Office, where he held an outdoor press conference after requesting BAO officials attend and give answers.
The "illegal constructions" Lee was referring to are two rectangular structures in front of the Presidential Office and an arch in front of the Executive Yuan publicizing Taiwan's UN bid.
They were erected at the request of the Cabinet last week, when it decreed that all central government offices should join in the promotion of the bid, erect flags and give away stickers to promote this year's UN bid.
The two constructions in front of the Presidential Office are approximately 20m tall.
"By law, anything higher than 6m should first be approved by the BAO. I have no idea how these two structures were erected without any prior approval," Lee said.
The BAO's assistant chief engineer Huang Chien-chang (黃建昌) and evaluation section head Meng Heng-chien (孟恆健) said that the constructions in front of the Presidential Office and the Executive Yuan were illegal.
Huang said that BAO was taking care of the matter.
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"We have issued a notice to the Presidential Office and the Executive Yuan notifying them that the structures are illegal. They have 10 days to `improve' things upon receiving the notice. When the deadline nears, if we have not heard anything, we will remove them," Huang said.
He said that "improve" meant either removing the constructions or filing a request for approval with the BAO.
Lee said normally when the BAO discovers illegal structures the first thing it would do is fine those responsible. The treatment of the Presidential Office and the Executive Yuan was different to that of the general public, he said.
"I want the BAO to fine them now, today," Lee said.
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