Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Wu Su-yao (吳思瑤) and others yesterday criticized the Taipei City Government for allocating as much as 70 percent of the city’s secondary reserve fund, which is earmarked for use in emergencies, to the Taipei International Flora Expo, even though the expo already has a budget of NT$9 billion (US$300 million).
The expo is the second major international event hosted by the administration of Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) after the Deaflympics last year. It will run from Nov. 6 until April 25 next year.
The city councilors said that despite already receiving NT$9 billion from the central government, corporate sponsors and the city government, Hau had allowed as much as NT$500 million to be taken out of the city’s secondary reserve fund.
“The reserve fund is for emergencies or unpredictable events or disasters that require extra funding from the government. What if an emergency happens and we have no money to deal with the situation?” Wu asked.
DPP Taipei City Councilor Chou Wei-you (周威佑) told the press conference that the city government had failed to adequately foresee costs associated with planning and marketing the Taipei International Flora Expo, which was why the city government continued to use money from the reserve fund.
“A lot of the costs could have been included in the projected budget. Using so much of the reserve fund could have been avoided,” Chou said.
DPP Taipei City Councilor Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) said the city government had better pray that no emergency or disaster occurs in the second half of this year, because if something were to happen, it would have no money to deal with it.
Cheng Ruey-Cherng (鄭瑞成), deputy director of the city’s Department of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, said the municipal government had allocated NT$700 million for natural disasters, so that in the event of an emergency, the city would still be able to handle the matter.
The department said that because the flora expo was an important international event and an effective method for promoting Taipei, the city government had been advised to draw from the secondary reserve fund for costs associated with the expo.
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