Taipei would be able to save up to NT$40 billion (US$1.27 billion) if the central government agrees to provide land to build public housing or take part in joint housing development projects, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday.
Ko made the remarks while accompanying Premier Lin Chuan (林全) to inspect Xinlong Public Housing buildings in Taipei’s Wenshan District (文山), where Lin was briefed on the buildings’ “smart” power systems and the city’s timetable for public housing projects in the area.
Lin praised the city’s progress in promoting public housing and told Ko that he plays a “pivotal role” in realizing President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) goal of building 200,000 public housing units by 2024.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The mayor said that his administration has made some progress on public housing projects after taking office more than a year ago.
His advice for Tsai is that her team must achieve success at one site to show the public that it is producing results, Ko said, adding that public housing is a shared goal between Taipei and the central government, “saving a lot of trouble.”
Asked about the progress of negotiations with the Ministry of Defense regarding a former military vehicle maintenance site in Xinyi District (信義), which the city has asked for to build public housing, Ko said that the municipality would request that the land be provided to his administration for free.
As the ministry needs to make preparations for a lack of dormitories in connection with its plan to implement an all-voluntary recruitment policy, the city would transfer a number of housing units on the site to the ministry to be used as dormitories, with the number of units to be determined by the land’s value, the mayor said.
In separate news, the venue for a banquet to be attended by Chinese officials participating in the Taipei-Shanghai forum has been changed from the Mandarin Oriental hotel to an employees’ common area in the basement of the Taipei City Hall.
The banquet on Monday evening is to be attended by a delegation headed by Shanghai Municipal United Front Work Department Director Sha Hailin (沙海林).
Asked by reporters if the arrangement would make Taipei seem “cheap,” Ko said that the Chinese delegation proposed that the venue be changed, as dining at the Mandarin Oriental would be at odds with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) policy against extravagant behavior.
Ko said he proposed that the venue be changed to the city hall’s basement.
Asked whether he had been careless for not having factored in Xi’s policy when choosing the banquet’s venue, Ko said that he chose the hotel for its grandeur, thinking that it would impress the guests.
Ko said that he is easygoing and does not pay much attention to details, unlike Sha, who is a “meticulous” person.
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