The Taipei City Government yesterday unveiled three options for its urban renewal project in the Shezidao (社子島) peninsula, which are to be put to a plebiscite via the city’s “i-voting” system.
The Shezidao Special Project Office said the three options were designed to balance biodiversity, residents’ living space, and space needed for development and transportation systems.
The first option involves the construction of four canals connecting the Keelung (基隆河) and Tamsui (淡水河) rivers, which would surround “settlement buildings” and a special zone dedicated to corporations planned in the area’s center, the office said. It would also involve the construction of public housing.
Photo: CNA
Settlement buildings refers to facilities the city government offers to people whose properties are expropriated, Taipei Deputy Mayor Charles Lin (林欽榮) said, adding that buildings would be offered at prices much lower than their market value.
Those who have properties vacated due to the project would receive compensation, he added.
The second option, entitled “ecological Shezidao,” would see the preservation of a canal that runs through the area.
Photo: CNA
Lin said the city government plans to build a waterfront park on each side of the canal by cultivating artificial wetlands.
The third option, “our Shezidao,” would see expropriations carried out in tandem with rehousing efforts, along with a variety of developments, Lin said.
All three options would include plots reserved for ecological restoration, a light-rail system and 20 hectares for businesses, he said.
Lin said the city would launch an Internet-based plebiscite on Dec. 12 to poll Taipei residents’ opinions on the three options, adding that Shezidao residents’ votes would be assigned an 80 percent weighting.
Taipei residents aged 18 or older who hold a Taiwanese identification card would be eligible to vote, either at voting stations or at home, he said.
Taipei Department of Land Deputy Commissioner Yi Li-min (易立民) said that landowners with illegal structures built before 2005 would be eligible to purchase resettlement lodgings.
Yi said the city government would see to it that residents who have been instructed to deal with illegal structures predating 2005 could fulfill the requirements without penalty.
Because the Building Act (建築法) prohibits new buildings in Shezidao, which is a flood-prone area, owners of illegal structures have been unable to gain permission to make alterations to structures, as doing so would make the buildings illegal according to the act, Yi said.
That would force them to forfeit their right to purchase resettlement buildings, he added.
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