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.”
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS