Inspecting the construction site of the athletes’ village for the 2017 Universiade yesterday, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) questioned amenities costing an estimated NT$2.6 billion (US$81.4 million) that would be removed right after the 12-day sports event.
“What kind of a design is it? I was pretty angry when I heard the briefing,” he said.
Taipei is scheduled to host the 2017 Universiade, an international event organized for student athletes and the second-largest sports event after the Olympics.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
However, the Universiade’s budget of NT$36.8 billion has become a hotly disputed topic.
A budget of NT$14 billion budget has been allocated for the athletes’ village in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), which is set to be turned into welfare housing units after the Universiade. Parts of the village’s amenities — amounting to NT$2.6 billion — are to be removed after the event.
Ko yesterday called into question what he called the disproportionate budget for the athletes’ accommodation at the beginning of the briefing.
“I cannot stand the idea of spending NT$2.6 billion for a 12-day stay,” he said.
Ko also raised doubts over the procedures involved in remodeling the athletes’ housing into public housing.
“There has been no communication between the Taipei City Government that is constructing the village and the New Taipei City Government, which would handle the public housing project,” he said.
The operational plan for the village was a complicated issue because the Taipei City Government has to construct the village only to pass it over to the New Taipei City Government to manage the public housing project, but the handover procedure had not been finalized, Ko said.
Ko said he would convene an ad hoc meeting to assemble the governments of the two municipalities as well as the Ministry of the Interior’s Construction and Planning Agency, to clarify the handover procedures.
Ko said that the governments should map out the long-term operational plans of the public housing project, so the athletes’ village could be constructed in a way that could be easily remodeled.
Ko approved the design and execution of other construction totaling NT$14 billion, adding that the three contractors responsible for the work had earned a reputation for their outstanding performance.
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