The Taipei City Government yesterday announced it would ban the construction of all public infrastructure around the National Palace Museum as part of an urban renewal plan, putting an end to the controversial construction of a gas station nearby.
Under the new regulation, public construction projects on a total of 159 hectares of land around the museum between Taibei High School, Zhishan Road and Soochow University would not be allowed for at least two years.
Ting Yu-chun (丁育群), commissioner of Taipei City’s Department of Urban Development, said the regulation was proposed to comply with the museum’s plan to redesign the area as a cultural park over the next two years, and the Executive Yuan approved the regulation yesterday.
While the museum finalizes the urban renewal project, all buildings and construction projects are to maintain their current conditions. Privately owned land only accounts for 2.6 percent of the area under the new regulation, so it would have a limited effect on the public, he said.
The city government’s move is believed to be aimed at the construction company building the suspended gas station project, Gsharp Corp, whose construction license for the gas station on Zhishan Road was revoked by the city government in 2007.
The company filed a lawsuit against the city government for “illegitimate obstruction” of the project, with a court ruling earlier this month that the project should proceed. The ruling cannot be appealed.
Gsharp Corp slammed the city government for its flip-flop attitude by granting it the license in 2007 and then rejecting the license later the same year, and has asked for the recovery of the construction license and NT$100 million (US$3 million) in compensation.
Ting said the new regulation did aim to terminate the construction of the gas station, but the main purpose behind the regulation was to keep the area untouched for possible changes in the future after the cultural park project is finalized.
As to the compensation the city government was asked to pay, Ting said it would negotiate with the company to settle the matter.
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