Urban renewal regulations should be revised to clearly define public interests, restrictions on the use of forced demolitions and provide new mediums for conflict resolution, rights campaigners said yesterday at a public meeting hosted by the Construction and Planning Agency.
“Merely tacking on the label ‘improving living conditions’ should not count as complying with requirements to meet public interests,” said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Yu Mei-nu (尤美女), whose sponsorship of a motion passed by the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee in June was the impetus for the hearing.
Yu said the hearing should address key issues such as striking a balance between urban renewal and city planning, and drawing a clear line between public and private authority.
“The urban renewal system lacks a mechanism for resolving conflict, leading to protests every time it arises,” she said, adding that guaranteeing good faith negotiations has been problematic.
“Current discussions on amendments to the Urban Renewal Act (都市更新條例) do not include what kind of public interest conditions warrant forced demolitions, or what conditions should apply before a forced demolition can be carried out,” Taiwan Anti-Forced Eviction Alliance member Peng Chih-cheng (彭至誠) said.
Current regulations require the government to “order” rather than “permit” demolitions carried out on the behalf of private firms, thus forcing the government to shoulder legal responsibility, Peng said.
Wang Tong-kai (王東凱) — the last holdout among owners of a building in Yongchun Community (永春) in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) that was demolished last month — said that current regulations give landowners few options to stop a demolition once a government order has been issued.
“Even if I win in court, the company that is executing the order will still be able to carry out the demolition and building [during the appeals process], effectively turning the court ruling into a worthless piece of paper,” he said. “If a firm has the right to begin building as long as it receives a permit, how can you guarantee that it will negotiate in good faith?”
Taiwan Association of Human Rights representative Huang Hui-yu (黃慧瑜) said that local government policy is skewed in favor of developers by providing urban renewal projects with automatic “volume incentives,” which help firms recover construction costs by allowing them to build taller structures.
National Chengchi University land economics professor Tai Hsiu-hsiung (戴秀雄) said “volume incentives” for demolishing and reconstructing older housing are wasteful.
“Just because your house is old does not mean the government has an obligation to get you another one — you ought to pay for it yourself,” he said.
A small number of Taiwanese this year lost their citizenship rights after traveling in China and obtaining a one-time Chinese passport to cross the border into Russia, a source said today. The people signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of neighboring Russia with companies claiming they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, the source said on condition of anonymity. The travelers were actually issued one-time-use Chinese passports, they said. Taiwanese are prohibited from holding a Chinese passport or household registration. If found to have a Chinese ID, they may lose their resident status under Article 9-1
PROCEDURE: Although there is already a cross-strait agreement in place for the extradition of criminals, ample notice is meant to be given to the other side first Ten Taiwanese who were involved in fraud-related crimes in China were extradited back to Taiwan via Kinmen County on Wednesday, four of whom are convicted fraudsters in Taiwan. The 10 people arrived via a ferry operating between Xiamen and Kinmen, also known as the “small three links.” The Kinmen County Prosecutors’ Office yesterday said that four of the 10 extradited people were convicted in Taiwan for committing fraud and contravening the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法), and were on the wanted list. They were immediately arrested upon arrival and sent to Kinmen Prison to serve their sentences following brief questioning, the office said.
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Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
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