The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) yesterday denied using government resources to secure bids for operating the Taipei World Trade Center and the Nangang Exhibition Hall.
“Government funds accounted for less than 1 percent of TAITRA’s total assets. TAITRA has always followed regulations on taking parts in bids,” TAITRA chairman James Huang (黃志芳) told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of Taiwan Week in Manila, Philippines.
Huang’s remarks came after a story in the Chinese-language Apple Daily alleging that TAITRA had breached the Act for Promotion of Private Participation in Infrastructure Projects (促進民間參與公共建設法) by using government resources to compete against private companies in bidding projects.
TAITRA was established in 1970 with paid-in capital of NT$40 million (US$1.32 million at the current exchange rate), with 50 percent of that funded by the Bureau of Foreign Trade, TAITRA data showed.
According to the act, companies in which the government has a more than 20 percent stake cannot participate in bids for public infrastructure projects.
The regulation aims to prevent government-backed firms from competing against private companies with more limited resources.
TAITRA winning the bids to operate the Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall, Taipei International Convention Center (TICC) and the Nangang Exhibition Hall are against the act and hamper opportunities for private firms, the report said, adding that the bidding was overseen by the bureau.
TAITRA has not only gained office rental income of more than NT$1.4 billion per year from the three projects, but also enjoyed income tax reductions and investment incentives, the report said.
TAITRA said that its total registered assets have grown to NT$5.2 billion as of this year, therefore the government’s initial capital injection accounts for less than 1 percent.
It said that it had legally obtained the operating rights to the Nangang Exhibition Hall in 2008 and last year renewed the operating rights to the Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall and TICC.
Huang said TAITRA does not aim to make a profit, but to help develop the nation’s exhibition industry.
A TAITRA source, who requested anonymity, told the Taipei Times that the timing of the report was questionable, as the bureau had just launched bidding for operations of the second exhibition hall at the Nangang Exhibition Hall.
“It [the report] could be the competitors’ strategy to secure the bid,” the source said by telephone.
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