Taipei City’s latest urban renewal program will create a 6.3 hectare green space and improve the city’s landscape, the Taipei City Government said yesterday, denying the plans will greatly benefit private land investors.
The “Taipei Beautiful” program, one of Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin’s (郝龍斌) policies to beautify the city for the upcoming Taipei International Flora Expo, includes the demolition of over 600 old or abandoned buildings owned by the city government.
Owners of old buildings that are located within 500m of major tourist attractions and transportation hubs can enjoy a “bulk reward,” or be granted extra floor space of three to 10 percent of their land when they develop the site, if they agree to turn the buildings into green spaces for at least 18 months.
However, the program has drawn criticism from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for offering the rewards to private construction companies. According to DPP Taipei City Councilor Huang Hsiang-chun (黃向群), the city’s Buildings Administration Office has approved 80 urban renewal applications, creating over 20,000 ping (66,000m2) of land and potential profits totaling over NT$12 billion (US$390 million) when the the bulk reward up to 10 percent is included.
“After 18 months, the park areas will all be turned into high-rise buildings after the expo. The city government and the construction companies are the only ones that benefit from the program,” he said.
Land previously owned by a private Christian organization in Tianmu, for example, was purchased by Huaku Development and turned into a park under the program. The company will build a 30-story apartment complex on the land after the 18-month period.
The Chinese-language United Daily News’ previous office building on Zhongxiao E Road was also demolished last year and turned into a park after the news group applied for the program. The temporary park will become a high-rise building in 2014 in accordance with the news group’s plan.
Taipei Deputy Mayor Lin Chien-yuan (林建元) yesterday denied helping private enterprises make profits if they chose to utilize the program, and insisted that the program would push for the demolition of old buildings in the city.
“Without the program and the incentives, no one would want to replace old buildings. Over 50 percent of the approved cases are for publicly owned land, and we do not give out bulk rewards easily,” he said.
Lin said the program will attract more than NT$12 billion in investment while beautifying the capital, but acknowledged that there is a lack of plans to prevent private investors from using the program for land speculation.
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