Protecting the rights of landowners should be one of the central focuses of an upcoming overhaul of the Urban Renewal Act (都市更新條例), a move prompted by the controversy surrounding the recent forced demolition of two homes in Taipei, lawyer Tsai Chih-yang (蔡志揚) said yesterday.
Developers had “too much influence” during the drafting of earlier amendments to the law and this time revisions should focus on the rights of landowners, individuals and the government, Tsai said during a hearing held by a group of Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers.
Lawmakers were partly to blame for passing a law that was so flawed and did not include any clauses favorable to landowners, he said.
Tsai is a member of an advisory group set up earlier this week by the Taipei City Government to provide professional guidance on how the city should undertake future urban renewal projects.
The group was established in the wake of the eviction of the Wang family in the city’s Shilin District (士林) last month to clear the way for a new residential -complex, which critics have said was a violation of the family’s property rights.
The Ministry of the Interior has promised to propose a draft amendment to the Urban Renewal Act within three months to address its shortcomings.
Coalition for the Victims of Urban Renewal leader Peng Lung-san (彭龍三) said the term “public interest,” which appears in Article 1 of the law, should be clearly defined and used to refer to public infrastructure.
There should be a mechanism that allows landowners to opt out of urban renewal projects when their property is not considered hazardous and the project in question does not involve public infrastructure, he said.
Urban Renewal Division head Chen Hsing-lung (陳興隆) said that the Construction and Planning Agency had so far come up with more than 20 proposed revisions to strengthen the protection of landowners’ rights.
Three public hearings will be held in the coming weeks to allow all sectors of society to express their opinions, he added.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday condemned Chinese and Russian authorities for escalating regional tensions, citing Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and joint China-Russia military activities breaching South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) over the past two days. A total of 30 Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday, entering Taiwan’s northern and southwestern airspace in coordination with 15 naval vessels and three high-altitude balloons, the MAC said in a statement. The Chinese military also carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” targeting Taiwan on Thursday evening, the MAC said. On
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday confirmed that Chinese students visiting Taiwan at the invitation of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation were almost all affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During yesterday’s meeting convened by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) asked whether the visit was a way to spread China’s so-called “united front” rhetoric, to which MAC Deputy Ministry Shen You-chung (沈有忠) responded with the CCP comment. The MAC noticed that the Chinese individuals visiting Taiwan, including those in sports, education, or religion, have had increasingly impressive backgrounds, demonstrating that the
MILITARY EXERCISES: China is expected to conduct more drills in the region after President William Lai’s office announced he would stopover in Hawaii and Guam China is likely to launch military drills in the coming days near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming trip to the Pacific and scheduled US transit as a pretext, regional security officials said. Lai is to begin a visit to Taipei’s three diplomatic allies in the Pacific on Saturday, and sources told Reuters he was planning stops in Hawaii and the US territory of Guam in a sensitive trip shortly after the US presidential election. Lai’s office has yet to confirm details of what are officially “stop-overs” in the US, but is expected to do so shortly before he departs, sources
Tasa Meng Corp (采盟), which runs Taiwan Duty Free, could be fined up to NT$1 million (US$30,737) after the owner and employees took center stage in a photograph with government officials and the returning Premier12 baseball champions at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Monday evening. When Taiwan’s national baseball team arrived home fresh from their World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 championship victory in Tokyo, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) was at the airport with Chinese Professional Baseball League commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) to welcome back the team. However, after Hsiao and Tsai took a photograph with the team, Tasa Meng chairwoman Ku