The Taipei City Government yesterday announced that public land in the city is set to be turned into garden plots, following news last week that land next to the city hall and city council buildings would be opened for gardening.
The move represents the city’s first specific steps toward Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) promise to create a “garden city.”
Parks and Street Lights Office Director Chang Yu-huei (張郁慧) said that following a cross-departmental committee meeting yesterday, a comprehensive survey will be conducted of public land to determine which spaces could be used.
Available plots are to be compiled in a full list, which will be posted online by the end of March, she said.
In addition to allowing city residents to apply to adopt plots of land online, the Web site will also allow private firms and organizations to make additional private plots of land available.
She said the city government would prepare soil for planting and also provide residents with instruction and organic fertilizer from the Taipei Department of Environmental Protection, which composts discarded food scraps.
City residents would be forbidden from using chemical fertilizers or pesticides on the city plots, with any residents who disobey the rules or neglect the sites forfeiting their right to participate in the program, she added.
While Ko had originally proposed vegetables could be planted in green spaces next to trees along city roads, the committee yesterday rejected such planting out of safety concerns, adding that trees would deprive vegetables of sunlight, while pollution from vehicles would further stunt their growth.
Whether the city’s riverside parks will be made available as part of the project remains undecided amid concerns over the possibility of flooding and pollution, Chang said.
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