A Taipei City councilor yesterday urged the city government to step up efforts to complete the North Datong Cultural Park (北大同文化園區), saying the city government had failed to finish the project after investing millions of NT dollars and eight years of renovation.
The North Datong Cultural Park project, which was initiated in 2002 by then-Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) administration in a bid to revive the old district, includes the Confucius Temple, Bao-an Temple, Dalong Elementary School and the Taipei Fine Arts Museum.
The city government has spent more than NT$100 million (US$3 million) over the last eight years on the project, but ongoing construction, such as the renovation of Dalong Street and landscape improvement work on the Confucius Temple, has only damaged historical monuments in the area, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Chen Yu-mei (陳玉梅) said while inspecting the temple yesterday.
PHOTO: CNA
Chen said renovation work on the Confucius Temple remained incomplete, and the temple's management committee even allowed construction workers to leave building materials and garbage in the temple's rear garden.
“The city government has failed to come up with a comprehensive plan to revive the area and did not consult historians and cultural experts during the reconstruction. It's naive to think that it could revive the area simply by pouring money into the project,” she said.
Chen said local residents and activists had expressed their concern that the project could damage the Confucius Temple and other historic monuments and demanded it halt construction work.
They opposed the project as they feared the park might become the next Jiancheng Circle (建成圓環) — a historical night market that shut down owing to slow business after being renovated by the city government.
The city government listed a budget of NT$900 million this year for the renovation project. Chen urged the city government to enhance communication with local communities and step up efforts to finish the construction work as soon as possible.
Shih Shu-li (施淑梨), executive secretary of the Taipei Confucius Temple, said renovation work on the temple is scheduled to be completed within two years, and the temple would take into account the opinions of local residents and activists in carrying out the changes.
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