The Taipei City Government yesterday said that it has submitted nine development project proposals to the Cabinet for the Forward-looking Infrastructure Construction Project in the hope of obtaining NT$50 billion (US$1.64 billion) of the NT$880 billion budget earmarked for the eight-year project.
The proposals include plans to build the city’s first north-south rail system, a flood retention facility in Shilin District’s (士林) Shezidao (社子島) peninsula, a water pipeline connecting the Beishih River (北勢溪) and the Jhihtan Water Purification Plant, an art complex at Taipei Expo Park, a biomass plant and a “green” energy park, a biotechnology industry cluster in Nangang District (南港), a financial park in Xinyi District (信義), energy-efficient “smart” power grids and a collaborative initiative between the city government and the private sector to create “smart” city infrastructure, Taipei City Government spokesman Liu Yi-ting (劉奕霆) said.
The city plans to build a biomass plant on land zoned for waste processing to bypass an urban design review, Taipei Department of Environmental Protection Deputy Commissioner Lu Shih-chang (盧世昌) said.
The “green” energy park, to be undertaken by Tatung Co, would include photovoltaic panels and biomass facilities to be built on the Shanzhuku landfill to improve Taipei’s utilization of “green” energy, Liu said.
The financial park is to be built on Xinyi Road, Sec 5, at the site of the city government’s Xinyi District Office.
The office, which has been ruled to be a “sea sand building” — built from cheap, ocean-sourced sand — is to be demolished and the site is to be rezoned for commercial use, the city government said.
The rail system is to be built in the eastern part of the city and would connect Neihu (內湖) and Xinyi districts and potentially Nangang and Wenshan (文山) districts, Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems Chief Secretary Wang Wei (王偉) said.
It would likely connect with the MRT Bannan, Wenhu, Tamsui-Xinyi and the planned Minsheng-Shijhih lines, Wang said.
The city seeks to build a biotechnology park in Nangang with technical support from Academia Sinica, forming an industry cluster of biotechnology firms as part of Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) East Gateway Initiative to boost development in the area.
The water pipeline, proposed in 2015 in the wake of Typhoon Soudelor, is to connect the Beishih River and the water purification plant, bypassing a section of the river where water is prone to turbidity during torrential rain, thereby preventing murky tap water from being supplied to homes in and around Taipei.
The NT$2 billion project is being reviewed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Taipei Water Department said, adding that the pipe is to be completed no later than 2023.
Liu said that the Cabinet has yet to review the proposals, and that further details on the projects would be disclosed following discussions between city and central government agencies.
Additional reporting by Ho Shih-chang
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