A new park on the site of a former “trash mountain” in the Huzhou Borough (葫洲) of Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖) formally opened yesterday, as legal struggles over the site’s ownership and land usage continue.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said the park’s opening was a “symbol” of environmental restoration in the city.
Taipei’s Department of Environmental Protection said that garbage was originally deposited in the site in the 1970s to fill in a marshy pit created by soil mining for brick factories. Later, difficulties in finding an alternative dump site led to a 53m high “trash mountain” on the site before it was sealed off following a fire fueled by gas emitted by decaying garbage.
The city spent the past eight years digging out 200 tonnes of garbage from the site as part of efforts to clean up and manage the neighboring Keelung River (基隆河).
The new park’s opening has been accompanied by controversy over land ownership and usage, with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) reporting yesterday that one of the site’s private owners has filed lawsuits against the city every year, demanding that his land be returned after being restored to its original condition.
Ko yesterday said that his administration would work harder than previous city administrations to resolve the conflict.
Department of Environmental Protection Deputy Commissioner Lu Shih-chang (盧世昌) said that, because five-sixths of the land is publicly owned, the city government was legally entitled to create the park.
The city government pays 7 percent of the private land’s assessed value to landowners as rent per year, in accordance with a court ruling ordering the city to return “undue enrichment” acquired during its occupation of the land.
Meanwhile, Ko said that the city’s next step would be to address the future of its Neihu garbage incineration plant, which he said should be retired from service.
Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Liou Ming-lone (劉銘龍) said the department was still in the process of assessing the possibility of its retirement.
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