Deep-rooted corruption in local politics will jeopardize grassroots involvement in Taiwan's reconstruction schemes following last month's earthquake unless institutional restructuring is in place, experts and veteran community builders warned yesterday.
Officials and experts agree that "community participation" is essential in redesigning quake-stricken areas, but many are still uncertain how such a bottom-up decision making process could be possible in communities that largely function from the top down.
Liao Chia-chan (1?躓i), a veteran community builder who has been stationed in Nantou's Puli over the past nine years, said that unless the central government grasps "the reality of disaster areas" and designs a feasible mechanism to encourage grassroots participation, top-down decision-making processes will add only more chaos to disaster areas.
One of the realities in disaster areas, Liao said, is that many of the most economically disadvantaged were unable to afford new homes, and had no opportunity to take part in discussions on how to improve future public facilities.
"Unless concrete incentives are offered to encourage people to take part in public space improvement schemes, such as supply of government and private funds, the reconstruction scheme with grassroots involvement will be a delusion," he said.
Officials said the central government is drafting guidelines to design an institutional mechanism to encourage grassroots participation in reconstruction schemes.
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But these projected stations lack any legal status, Chen said.
Such an institutional mechanism worries professional community builders as well as other experts.
"If the central government still distributes funding (for these plans) through the administrative hierarchy down to the townships, there will be problems as in the past such as intervention of local factions or corruption on the part of some heads of townships. Corruption at the local level could easily tarnish these reconstruction schemes," said Sun Hua-hsiang (孫華翔), executive president of the Cultural Environment Formosa Foundation (??ぜ?珧簹鷛|).
To reduce intervention by local factions, the government should grant the working stations legal status and deliver funding directly to communities, Sun said.
Monica C. Kuo (3〡ˉ?, an associate professor of landscape architecture from Chinese Culture University, offered a solution. "The reconstruction committee set up in quake-stricken townships should include officials from the central government. Such an institutional design may bring the negative influence of local politics to a minimum," Kuo said.
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