Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday came under fire from city councilors across party lines over his megaprojects, including the Flora Expo, road repairs and a biotechnology park.
Hau, who was invited to deliver a policy report on the three projects on the council floor yesterday, said it was incorrect to say that the Flora Expo would cost NT$12 billion (US$375.7 million), adding that it would only cost NT$9.5 billion.
He later admitted the figure would jump to about NT$12 billion, but the additional NT$2.4 billion would come in the form of regular budgets and the city would spend it anyway regardless of whether it held the Flora Expo. All 14 building structures but one would also be preserved, he said.
Hau angered Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) councilors when he refused to tell DPP City Councilor Chou Po-ya (周柏雅) the total number of contracts the city signed or entrusted other agencies to sign to host the Flora Expo.
Hau said the city had signed 227 contracts, while the Taipei Culture Foundation had signed 13.
However, Hau said he could not add the two numbers together because the foundation was not a government agency, but a corporate body, although it receives a large portion of its funding from the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs.
DPP City Councilor Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) accused Hau of giving special treatment to residents of Zhongshan (中山) and Datong (大同) districts, saying it hurt the feelings of residents elsewhere.
To thank the residents of the two districts who may be affected by the expo, the city government will give them priority visitation rights during test runs.
The major exhibition sites — Yuanshan Park, Xinsheng Park and Dajia Riverside Park — are located in the two districts.
DPP City Councilor Chien Yu-yen (簡余晏) asked Hau to apologize for damaging the landscape of the two districts and causing traffic inconveniences.
She also requested the mayor to apologize to borough wardens for asking them to help sell tickets and mobilize public servants to help out with the event.
Independent Councilor Chen Chien-ming (陳建銘) said Hau treated Taipei citizens as laboratory mice and civil servants as slaves.
DPP City Councilor city councilor Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) said Hau should be ashamed that four years into his term, the city’s roads were still bad, gutters were blocked and street lights were broken.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) City Councilor Fred Wang (王浩) said he was disappointed to see the road in front of the Taipei train station dug up seven times over the past 11 months.
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