With Farglory Land Development Co (遠雄建設) embroiled in bribery allegations related to a public housing development in Taoyuan County, a group of environmental activists yesterday accused the company of being involved in illegal acts in relation to the Taipei Dome project.
Having patrolled the Taipei Dome construction site for more than 40 days, members of the Taiwan Green Power Union — a group of activists and volunteers dedicated to protecting the trees in streets by the site from being relocated — protested in front of Taipei City Hall yesterday morning ahead of a project coordination meeting.
Songshan Tobacco Factory Park Union director Yu Yi (游藝) said his organization had discovered several flaws in the process by which Farglory won the bid for the project, leading them to suspect the build-operate-transfer (BOT) project was handed to Farglory as the result of bid-rigging.
Photo: Kuo An-chia, Taipei Times
“Renting the 10.02 hectares of land to Farglory for 50 years without charging any royalty fee means that this land, which belongs to Taipei residents, has been given to Farglory, but city residents stand to gain no profit at all,” Yu said.
He said the land is worth hundreds of billions of New Taiwan dollars, but it is being rented to the company for only 1 percent of its current value.
Several members of the Taipei City Government were treated to banquets by the company during the evaluation and selection process, Yu said, adding that while the city government’s department of ethics investigated the banquets, then-Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) allowed the company to win the bid and current Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) issued a construction permit to the company.
Yu said the group would file data which might be evidence of bid-rigging with the Agency Against Corruption in a few days.
The protesters shouted slogans such as “government-business collusion” and “illegally cutting down trees,” and “everyone against the black-hearted dome,” before insisting that “not even one tree should be removed.”
The city government originally banned the activists and reporters from attending the meeting, but later allowed the media to attend after a protest lodged by the activists and the press.
However, with the city government unwilling to accept the activists’ road construction plans — with all the trees preserved in their current locations — a few members of the group of activists left the meeting as an act of protest.
Taipei Deputy Mayor Chang Chin-oh (張金鶚), convener of the meeting, said that transportation specialists would be called in to discuss whether alternative street plans that would not affect the street trees could be designed, adding that no trees on Guangfu S Road would be relocated before then.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
PEAK MONTHS: Data showed that on average 25 to 27 typhoons formed in the Pacific and South China seas annually, with about four forming per month in July and October One of three tropical depressions in the Pacific strengthened into a typhoon yesterday afternoon, while two others are expected to become typhoons by today, Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecaster Lee Ming-hsiang (李名翔) said yesterday. The outer circulation of Tropical Depression No. 20, now Typhoon Mitag, has brought light rain to Hualien, Taitung and areas in the south, Lee said, adding that as of 2pm yesterday, Mitag was moving west-northwest at 16kph, but is not expected to directly affect Taiwan. It was possible that Tropical Depression No. 21 would become a typhoon as soon as last night, he said. It was moving in a
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
A Taiwanese academic yesterday said that Chinese Ambassador to Denmark Wang Xuefeng (王雪峰) disrespected Denmark and Japan when he earlier this year allegedly asked Japan’s embassy to make Taiwan’s representatives leave an event in Copenhagen. The Danish-language Berlingske on Sunday reported the incident in an article with the headline “The emperor’s birthday ended in drama in Copenhagen: More conflict may be on the way between Denmark and China.” It said that on Feb. 26, the Japanese embassy in Denmark held an event for Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s birthday, with about 200 guests in attendance, including representatives from Taiwan. After addressing the Japanese hosts, Wang
RSS