The Taipei City Government yesterday failed for the fourth time to attract bidders interested in starting businesses on three plots of land in Zhongzheng District (中正) previously occupied by the former Taipei City Council, with the Taipei Department of Finance blaming the result on a weak domestic economy.
Despite the city cutting royalties to be paid by the winning bidder from NT$6 billion (US$185.39 million) to NT$2.6 billion over the contract’s life, set at 50 years, it still failed to attract investors.
The contract for the development states that a developer must grant the municipal government 40 percent of superficies; 20 percent of which would be used for a museum commemorating the former city council and introducing the city’s history, and the other 20 percent to establish headquarters for non-governmental organizations (NGO) in the tourism industry from around the world.
Department Deputy Commissioner Yu Shih-ming (游適銘) said the weak economy could have discouraged potential bidders, adding that the failed bidding process could be due in part to the public’s reluctance to invest in real estate.
Department Interim Commissioner Chen Chih-ming (陳志銘) said that the department would revise the conditions for further solicitation of tenders.
Chen said that the department would assess the possibility of setting an upper limit on rent increases for city-owned land to limit the scope of rent increases.
Chen said that an increase in the latest assessed land value announced in December last year drove up the rent for the site — which is on the intersection of Zhongxiao W and Zhongshan S roads — by 41 percent, which could also have contributed to the unsuccessful bidding process.
As the museum and NGO headquarters would be in the same building erected by a developer, the department plans to better explain the rights a winning bidder would have in terms of floor management to help remove any potential doubt over the development project, he said.
Chen said that the department would also revise conditions on the percentage of floor space to be used by the city government, adding that it would consider giving a developer management rights over the NGO headquarters.
Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said that while many people interpreted the failed bidding process as a ramification of Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) apparent animosity toward corporations, citing city probes into possible malpractice in development projects undertaken by the private sector, the municipality asking for a disproportionately large stake in floor space likely drove away potential investors and was the main reason behind the debacle.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai