A cross-dike platform is among the plans for an urban renewal project in Taipei’s Datong District (大同), officials from the Taipei City Government’s Department of Urban Development said yesterday.
“Because of the reinforced concrete river dike, it is difficult for people inside [the city] to view the fine scenery outside [the river dike],” department chief engineer Chang Li-li (張立立) said. “However, if we add a platform, it would be possible to walk on it and view Guanyin Mountain (觀音山) on the opposite bank.”
He added that the planting of a garden over the platform would address the area’s lack of green space.
The design calls for an estimated NT$1.4 billion (US$44.87 million) to be spent on constructing a 1km platform from the smaller Dihua Platform south to the Taipei Bridge.
Chang added that the new platform was designed to spur urban renewal by offering new opportunities for developments that would have direct connections to the park above Huanhe N Road (環河北路).
Building projects that connect to the platform would be charged annual fees to help the city recoup construction costs, he said.
As one of Taipei’s oldest districts, construction plans in Datong are central to the city government’s plans for urban renewal, with at least three publicly managed urban renewal projects under discussion, Chang said.
In contrast to other Taipei districts, where new public housing construction is planned, the city plans to increase public housing in the Datong district mainly through leasing and refurbishing abandoned buildings, Chang said.
Details of city plans are tentative pending a public hearing with local residents on July 25, he said.
Guoshun Borough (國順) Warden Chen Ying-hui (陳穎慧) said that in principle she fully supports city-sponsored urban renewal and the platform construction plans, but she is still unclear about the details.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
RSS