Banks said that they hope the Taipei City Government can “coach” Farglory Group (遠雄集團) to produce a follow-up Taipei Dome safety plan, according to Deputy Taipei Mayor Teng Chia-chi (鄧家基).
The banks’ stance belies Farglory’s position that the terms of the contract under which it borrowed construction funds should restrict the results of ongoing negotiations with the city, Teng said after a meeting yesterday.
The city and Farglory have been locked in conflict over the build-operate-transfer project’s contract and site safety since January.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The city government yesterday held an initial “information session” with the banks behind the Taipei Dome’s syndicated loan.
“Even though financing institutions are not included in the [Dome] contract, their loans mean that they have a large stake in the project,” Teng said.
He said that city departments had made several presentations to banking representatives to ensure that they had “first-hand” information on city policy.
“There is a possibility that in the future our partnership can continue to be pushed forward and expanded,” he said.
The possible contractual influence of any new Dome safety plan should be considered only after Farglory presents an initial draft, he said, rejecting as “conjecture” and “misunderstandings” rumors that the city has sought to use lenders to pressure Farglory.
Teng added that the city governement could hold meetings with Farglory as soon as next week.
The city asked Farglory’s lenders to take over Dome site management earlier this month.
Teng said the banks were so far reluctant to take on the project, but would hold internal discussions.
Songshan Tree Protection Volunteer Union members who protested outside City Hall before the meeting said the meeting showed Farglory was being treated with undue leniency.
Union policy director Arthur Yo (游藝) said that requesting the banks to take over the project amounted to a de facto “extension” of the Dome’s deadline, adding that the city should dissolve Farglory’s contract.
“The city government could dissolve Farglory’s contract now, but they want to ease the situation and find a way to extricate the Dome,” Yo said.
If the banks take over the project, Farglory would have an additional six months to complete the project free from city interference, he said.
That would mean city-imposed construction restrictions would have to be dropped, he said.
Given that the Dome is largely completed save for the exterior and some interior finishing, Farglory would likely be able to finish within six months, forestalling any city attempt to dissolve the contract, Yo said.
While accusations that safety is being compromised have served to rally public support, they are not founded on existing safety regulations, so failure to complete the Dome on time is the only clear grounds for dissolving Farglory’s contract, he added.
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