The Muzha Refuse Incineration Plant smokestack in Taipei’s Muzha District (木柵) is to be redecorated with images of Taiwanese blue magpies, banyan trees and rhododendrons, Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said on Wednesday.
The 150m smokestack currently features images of giraffes.
Ko in a Facebook post cited wear and tear as the reason for the new paint job.
Photo provided by the Environmental Protection Administration
The change is part of a planned refurbishment, which will see the plant’s exhaust gas treatment and power and electric systems upgraded, Ko wrote, adding that the public’s standards regarding air quality have continuously risen.
The refurbishment would reduce the plant’s emissions, increase the power it generates from waste heat by 6 million kilowatt-hours per year, and return its capacity to more than 1,000 tonnes of waste per day, Ko said.
Liang Hung-lang (梁宏郎), who heads the plant, had said on Monday that the image would be kept secret until it was painted at the end of the year.
Photo provided by the Environmental Protection Administration
The giraffes have remained on the smokestack for 24 years, Ko said, adding that many people mistakenly believe that it marks Taipei Zoo, which is also located in the area.
The new images are more representative of the city’s ecological environment and would better blend into the scenery, Ko said, adding that they were created by local artists Chen I-ming (陳一銘) and Lin Chia-wei (林家蔚).
The Taiwanese blue magpie, the banyan tree and the rhododendron are the city’s official bird, tree and flower, the Taipei City Government’s Department of Environmental Protection said in a statement.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS