The New Year’s Eve fireworks display at the Taipei 101 building next month might not only be the longest-running ever at the skyscraper, it could also be the last.
Due to difficulties finding sponsors and growing concerns about the environmental impact of fireworks, the Taipei Financial Center Corp (TFCC) said it has been mulling the idea of replacing the fireworks with light displays.
The New Year’s Eve fireworks display is set to go on for about 4 minutes and is estimated to cost NT$45 million (US$1.4 million).
About 30,000 rounds of fireworks are expected to be set off at the building, starting at midnight on Dec. 31.
“Nature is Future” is the theme of the display, and images of fish, flowers and plants are to be depicted for the first time to raise awareness of environmental protection.
TFCC spokesman Michael Liu (劉家豪) said his company had been hoping to cooperate with other skyscrapers in the area to stage the fireworks display, but the plan fell through due to concerns over safety and crowd evacuation plans.
The Taipei 101 company has allocated more than NT$50 million over a two-year period to change its building lights into LED lights, Liu said.
The new lights are brighter and the control system is more sophisticated, so different light shows can be created to celebrate holidays and festivals, he said.
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