A development project to turn a stretch of beachfront in New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水) into a creative culture park has finally been given the green light after years of setbacks during the approval process.
Based around Shalun Beach, the 4.52 hectare build-operate-transfer project proposal was first tabled in 2007, by the then-Taipei County government.
However the initial proposal was twice rejected by the Ministry of the Interior due to its overly extensive scope, with a range of cultural, artistic and business aspects.
After the New Taipei City Government fine-tuned the proposal, the Shalun Beach Creative Culture Park project earned ministry approval in February and is now scheduled for open tender bidding in August.
The project is to offer venues for the visual arts, music and live performance, cultural heritage events, art exhibitions, industrial arts and crafts, and the creative lifestyle industry.
It is intended to be a dramatic transformation for the beach, located on the right bank of the mouth of the Tamsui River where it enters the sea. It served as a public beach, with ticket-purchase entrance in the 1970s for swimming and leisure activities, and was once a popular destination for residents of Greater Taipei on weekends and holidays.
However, visitors gradually declined, due to pollution and the deterioration of the water quality and the beach operation began to lose money.
Unable to absorb the mounting losses on rental and operation costs, the Tamsui Town Council shut it down in 1999.
The sandy beach has many hidden traps, with rip tides and swirling currents in the intertidal zone. Over the decades, many mishaps and drownings have occurred there.
This gave the Shalun Beach the notoriety of being one of the “10 most dangerous shorelines of Taiwan” in yearly surveys.
In summer of 2012, eight high-school students playing at the beach were carried off by strong waves, and five drowned. After that, New Taipei Government enforced a complete ban on swimming and all recreational activities, leaving the beach virtually abandoned.
Lin Fang-liang (林芳良), an official with the city government in charge of project tender bids, said the environment surrounding the beach has nice scenic landscapes, and some companies at first aimed to construct South Pacific-style resort hotels there.
“The profitability for those plans was questioned and no investment came forth. After that, turning it into a ‘Creative Culture Park’ was proposed... The abandoned parking lot will be transformed into a multi-use site, and will accommodate business operations,” Lin said.
“The sandy beach area will be protected; it will not be developed. All buildings will be limited to a height of 47 meters or less ... [so] the project would not require an environmental impact assessment study,” he added.
Lin Yi-wei (林逸偉), senior technical specialist at the city’s Economic Development Department, said the project’s two main land areas belong to the central government’s National Property Administration.
“One land section of 2.74 hectares is next to the beach zone. This is designated for the development of creative culture industries. The other section is the parking lot — at 1.78 hectares — and has been included for the project development,” he said.
The project is designed to focus on five primary concepts: the visual arts; music and live performance; application of cultural heritage and art exhibition installations; industrial arts and crafts, and the creative lifestyle industry.
Liu Hui-chuan (劉慧娟), director for Tamkang University’s Innovative Center for Cultural and Creative Industries, said the project should not just be a construction of park facilities only for business operations.
“Our school will participate in the project, by working together to incorporate culture and creative industries into people’s daily lives. We also look to promote and enhance the arts and cultural ambience for Tamsui,” she said.
Chiang Jung-yuan (江榮原), who founded a Tamsui-based soapmaking business that employs fruit, wood and natural ingredients, said New Taipei City does not have well-developed creative cultural settings, especially when compared to Taipei’s Huanshan Creative Park (華山1914文創園區) and Songshan Cultural and Creative Park (松山文創園區).
“We hope the government can provide more help and resources for us, so local industries can have the stage to show off our products,” Chiang said.
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