Following plans to build a tennis center, the Taipei City Government yesterday announced it intends to establish a basketball center as a new venue for professional basketball games and international sports events.
The 8,000-seat basketball center would cost the city government NT$2 billion (US$600 million).
A 35,000m² site, previously set aside for an elementary school next to the Da’an Sports Center, has been selected for the development.
PHOTO: CNA
PROMOTING BASKETBALL
Announcing the project at Taipei City Hall, Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said the city government is seeking to promote basketball and other sports with the establishment of the basketball center in addition to the tennis center.
“As the nation’s capital, Taipei must offer sports venues that reach international standards and with the construction of the tennis and basketball centers, we hope to cultivate more talent while hosting more international games,” Hau said.
Taipei has launched a bid to host the 2019 Asian Games and intends to compete for the 2017 East Asian Games.
TENNIS CENTER
Earlier this month, the city government announced plans to build a tennis center, on par with international standards, in Neihu District (內湖).
Both the basketball and tennis facilities are scheduled to be completed by 2014.
Hau said that with a declining birth rate, the city would use more land set aside for elementary schools for other purposes.
Chinese Taipei Basketball Association director Mao Kao-wen (毛高文) and several professional basketball players from the Super Basketball League (SBL) yesterday attended the press conference and endorsed the government’s plan.
“We have been practicing at various venues and it is great news for us to have a practice venue in downtown Taipei,” SBL player Lee Hsueh-lin (李學林) said.
PRO VENUE NEEDED
Mao said the city has lacked a professional basketball venue ever since the ROC Stadium burned down 22 years ago, adding that the basketball center would be a boost to the sport.
Taipei City Sports Office director Sun Chin-chuan (孫清泉) said the land where the former stadium once stood, which is located on Nanjing E Road near Taipei Arena, belonged to a private business, and the city government had been negotiating with the land owner to build a stadium or a cultural facility on the site.
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