Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday criticized Taipei Dome contractor Farglory Group for “haggling” over the cost of the complex’s operations after a media report said the corporation is planning to abandon the beleaguered build-operate-transfer (BOT) project.
The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) yesterday reported that Farglory planned to abandon the project out of concerns over a new property tax and the rent it would be required to pay for the duration of the BOT contract once the Dome complex begins operations.
Farglory is waiting for the next opportunity to dissolve the BOT contract, the report said.
“Property and land taxes are levied nationwide. They are not directed at Farglory,” Ko said yesterday on the sidelines of a premiere of documentaries on Taipei’s agricultural sector.
“First, they nag every day saying they want to build [the Dome]. Then they complain about high land and property taxes after we ask them to apply for resumption of construction,” Ko said, describing Farglory’s alleged plan as an attempt at haggling.
According to the Liberty Times, Farglory would shoulder property and land taxes totaling more than NT$30 billion (US$939,202) over the contract’s life, making it impossible for the conglomerate to offset operating costs with the complex’s estimated revenue, the report said.
Due to land values calculated by the municipal government rising in recent years, the rent that the city government charges Farglory for the Dome site increased from NT$42.62 million between 2009 and 2012 to NT$67.06 million from 2013 to last year.
Even if land values determined by the city remained flat, Farglory would need to pay a rent totaling NT$4.63 billion over the contract’s life of 50 years, the report showed.
Under the contract, Farglory would be required to pay property taxes for five buildings in the complex for 40 years, which, calculated by the tax rates set forth in 2014 which the site would be subjected to, would add another NT$24.6 billion to Farglory’s operating costs, the report said.
Farglory spokesman Jacky Yang (楊舜欽) dismissed the report.
Farglory has always remained steadfast in its resolve to finish construction at the Dome site, and it would honor the agreement it reached with the city on Sept. 8 and strive for the construction to be resumed, Yang said.
He conceded that the corporation had not taken increases in rent and property prices into account when it submitted the tender for the project, saying that this could pose a great challenge to the complex’s operations.
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