The Taipei City Government will begin preparations to take over the Taipei Dome construction project prior to new negotiations with Farglory Land Development Co (遠雄建設), Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday.
“Prepare for the enemy rather than betting he won’t appear,” said Ko, alluding to Chinese strategist Sun Tzu’s (孫子) The Art of War.
He said that city would first conduct a full appraisal of the financial, legal and engineering considerations involved in taking over site management before calling in Farglory representatives for further talks.
Photo: CNA
Farglory on Tuesday issued a further response to a city report questioning the safety of the project, saying that many major buildings, such as Taipei 101, would be labeled unsafe under the city’s “unreasonable” methodology.
Farglory Group (遠雄集團) chairman Chao Teng-hsiung (趙藤雄) said the controversy had shown him that politics is “extremely scary,” adding that he would terminate the construction of a health park in Miaoli County in response.
“Politics is not difficult — all Chao needs to do is find his conscience,” Ko said yesterday in response, adding that the city would take the firm’s concerns seriously and thoroughly research the firm’s comments before new talks.
In response to questions on whether the city’s moves are aimed at forcing Farglory to agree to higher royalties for site use, Ko said the city would first focus on addressing concerns about site safety, before moving on to traffic concerns and site royalties.
The Chinese-language Next Magazine yesterday said in an article that city probes into site safety and contract negotiations — along with threats to appropriate the arena site — were aimed at forcing Farglory to agree to increase site royalties by NT$1.2 billion (US$39 million) annually.
The city revealed its safety probe after talks to renegotiate Farglory’s contract fell apart in January.
Ko also dismissed comments by Miaoli County Commissioner Hsu Yao-chang (徐耀昌) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) that faulted Taipei for Farglory’s termination of the Miaoli health park project, using a Taiwanese idiom to compare Hsu statement to “a woman blaming a neighbor for being unable to get pregnant.”
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