The Taipei Department of Budget, Accounting and Statistics yesterday tried to clarify reports that Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) had reneged on a promise not to allocate funds for projects whose budgets had been granted by the Taipei City Council — by using NT$106.18 million (US$3.33 million) of the city’s second reserve fund this year.
The Chinese-language Storm Media on Tuesday reported that Ko had approved the use of the fund to make up for shortages for 12 budgetary items, the most expensive of which is the relocation and reconstruction of the historic Mitsui Warehouse, built during the Japanese colonial period, which was given an additional NT$40 million, the department’s data showed.
The building is to be relocated to make space for a “road adjustment” plan to alleviate traffic near the historic North Gate.
Using the fund to make up for insufficiencies in budgets means Ko has broken a promise made in July that he would not raise budgets approved for any projects during his term, the Web site said.
Among the projects that received additional funding from the reserve fund were design fees for Summer Universiade staff uniforms and the torch for an overseas torch relay scheduled for next year, which were granted an extra NT$5.2 million, as well as “preliminary planning fees” for the reconstruction of the Taipei First Produce Wholesale Market and the Taipei Fish Market in Zhongshan District (中山), which was given an additional NT$11 million.
As the budget for the reconstruction of the markets are still being reviewed by the council, granting the project NT$11 million from the fund amounted to a procedural violation, the report said.
Department Commissioner Liang Hsiu-chu (梁秀菊) dismissed the report, saying that the city government used the fund so that it could “carry out the projects sooner,” and that the money allocated from the fund would be included to budget quotas the council had approved for the projects to ensure that no additional fees would be generated.
The NT$11 million that went into preliminary planning of the markets’ reconstruction was not additional spending, even though the planning had already cost the city NT$9 million and had a quota of NT$17 million, she said.
The Taipei Market Administration Office said it initially planned reconstruction of the two buildings separately and budgeted a total of NT$9 million last year and in 2014 for the planning.
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