The Sports Affairs Council yesterday accused the Kaohsiung City Government of indecisiveness on the taking over of management at the World Games Stadium and criticized it for not actively addressing infrastructure issues at the stadium.
The remarks came after President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) traveled to Kaohsiung on Saturday. Commenting on the stadium, Ma said the city government should not waste such an expensive facility by not using it.
In a statement on the weekend, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu’s (陳菊) campaign office said Ma’s remarks made a mockery of the World Games and were meant to destroy the pride of Kaohsiung residents.
“Ma seems to forget that the stadium is under the administration of the Sports Affairs Council, which remains unwilling to transfer the facility to the local government,” the office said.
The council told a press conference yesterday to refute Chen’s claims.
Sports Affairs Council Deputy Minister Chen Hsien-tsung (陳顯宗) said the construction of the stadium was funded entirely by the council. However, it entrusted the construction bureau of the Kaohsiung City Government to execute the plan.
He said he met Kaohisung Deputy Mayor Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) in 2008 and sought to discuss the possibility of letting the city manage operations at the stadium. Chiu, however, told him the city was not interested, citing financial reasons, he said.
“We set up an agency to manage the stadium’s operation after the World Games were over and the city government said in October it was once again interested,” Chen Hsien-tsung said.
As Premier Wu Dun-yih (吳敦義) has ordered the council to quickly transfer management of the stadium to the city government, the minister said the council issued an official letter to the city and asked it to submit a proposal on how it plans to manage the NT$7 billion (US$220 billion) property.
The council also identified 3,000 infrastructure problems at the stadium and asked the city’s construction bureau to address them before the council officially hands over the property to the city government.
Chen Hsien-tsung said the requirement was to ensure that the council will not be blamed for future problems.
As of yesterday, 47 infrastructure issues had yet to be addressed, he said, including six major ones. While the city has submitted a proposal, He said that it offered no specific details on how it would facilitate the transfer of the management.
Chen Hsien-tsung said the council had used the stadium to host more than 80 events and games after the World Games last year. In the press conference yesterday, it also displayed a list of events held since last year to show that the council has fully utilized the stadium.
“We are really tired of engaging in this kind of verbal sparring,” Chen Hsien-tsung said. “Let’s go by the rules and speak like professionals.”
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