The Taipei City Government yesterday announced an urban renewal project to help at least 200,000 owners of older houses to renovate their residences.
The project aims to renew four to five-story apartment buildings that are at least 30 years old, which account for 34 percent of the buildings in Taipei.
Renewal of old apartments has been a thorny issue as the floor area of each residence would shrink after renovation under current urban renewal regulations, affecting both construction companies and home owners’ willingness to renew their properties.
Announcing the new project yesterday, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said the city government would solve the long-stalled issue by providing more incentives to construction companies and actively approaching residents to persuade them to participate in the project.
“Over 1 million Taipei residents, many of them low-income families, still live in old apartments with no elevators and poor safety features. This project will improve their living conditions as well as beautify the city,” he said.
Lin Chung-chieh (林崇傑), director of Taipei City’s Urban Development Office, said the plan would start in August. Four-to-five story apartment buildings that are 30 years or older and over 2,000m² will qualify for renewal.
Residents who live in apartments that meet the conditions and are located in wealthier districts, such as Da-an (大安) and Xinyi (信義), and whose house value exceeds NT$500,000 per ping (3.3m²), will be provided with a similar sized unit and a parking space for free while their apartments are being renewed.
Hau touted the project as being of great benefit to residents who live in older apartments.
However, Fang Ho-sheng (方荷生), a local borough chief in Wanhua District (萬華), said the project would only help residents who live in districts that already enjoy higher real estate prices.
The average price of an apartment in his borough is about NT$300,000 per ping, which would bring construction companies less profits, even with more incentives. In addition, most residents in his borough are low-income families or secior citizens who cannot afford to live elsewhere while their apartment is being renovated, a process that will take at least four years, he said.
The Urban Development Office said the application process for apartment renewal would take about one year, while the reconstruction would take another three to four years.
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