The New Taipei City Government’s development plans for Sinjhuang District (新莊) would see residents forced out of their homes, residents of the Wenzaizun (塭仔圳) area said yesterday, calling on the Ministry of the Interior to reject rezoning plans.
About 20 residents from five different neighborhoods protested outside the ministry, shouting slogans accusing the city government of pushing plans that, if approved, would leave them homeless.
“We are legal residents, but we only have small 15 ping [49.6m2] townhouses and after rezoning, the government will appropriate 8 ping, leaving us with too little space to rebuild,” Wenzaizun Self-Help Association head Chiu Shu-wen (邱淑雯) said, adding that financial compensation offered by the government would not be enough to purchase a new home in the area.
Unlike urban renewal, rezoning laws allow the government to annex part of the land as part of a broader reapportionment, she said.
Construction in the area had been forbidden for decades due to risk of flooding, with new development plans under consideration following the completion of the Sinjhuang MRT Line, with an MRT line connecting Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport with the Greater Taipei area also to run through Sinjhuang when it begins operation later.
Campiagners criticized the city government for unrealistic plans that failed to take residents’ concerns into account.
“No one would object if the city government was truly committed to helping the area move in the right direction, but the proposals call for the tearing down of numerous apartment buildings, even though New Taipei City’s vacancy rates are the highest in the nation,” Taiwan Anti-Forced Eviction Alliance member Jia Bo-kai (賈伯楷) said, adding that nearby rezoned areas have not been filled in.
Jia said that despite previous city government promises to listen to residents’ concerns, plans submitted to the ministry remain unchanged.
Campaigners also called for the government to allow small factories to relocate within rezoned areas, saying that many local residents would lose their jobs if the factories were forced to close as called for under the plans.
Factory owner and association head Lin Wen-cheng (林文政) said it might be possible for factories to be relocated to the site of a former “trash mountain” in nearby Wugu District (五股), but that plans propose the site be developed in 2022.
Following a review of the city government’s plan, the Department of Land Administration instructed the city to hold further discussions with residents and present clearer plans to address their concerns prior to final approval.
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