The Ministry of the Interior yesterday approved the Taipei City Government’s long-stalled development project for Shilin District’s (士林) Shezidao (社子島) peninsula with three conditions.
The peninsula is a low-lying tract of land at the intersection of the Tamsui River (淡水河) and the Keelung River (基隆河) that often floods during typhoons. It was in 1970 designated as a development-restricted area to be used as a flood retention basin.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) had instructed city officials to hold a survey on the i-Voting online polling platform in February 2016 for Shezidao residents to decide what type of development they preferred for the peninsula. The majority of voters favored an “ecological Shezidao” plan, which was submitted for ministry review.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
Ko, who had promised to allow development on the peninsula during his election campaign, yesterday attended a review meeting at the ministry and gave a presentation about the proposed project.
The project was preferable over one proposed in 2000 that would have raised the peninsula’s elevation by about 6m, which would bury the area’s culture heritage, he said.
The residents are most concerned about resettlement, so the city government would make sure to resettle them before demolition and reconstruction, he added.
The city expects that about 70 percent of Shezidao residents would be able to purchase an ad hoc project housing unit and 30 percent would be able to rent a resettlement housing unit for at least 12 years, Ko said, adding that rent would be discounted according to the residents’ financial status, and absolute household registration would be enforced.
Property rights are complicated due to the construction ban, Deputy Minister of the Interior Hua Ching-chun (花敬群) said, adding that for example one address has seven or eight households with more than 30 people.
The ministry’s urban planning review committee approved the city’s proposal, but added three requirements: The city government must draft detailed plans to protect the existing communities and preserve culture heritage, it must implement household registration and resettlement fairly and reasonably, and it must hold public hearings on the resettlement plan before submitting a zonal expropriation plan for review.
The conclusion of the meeting is a major breakthrough that the city government could not achieve for 48 years, Taipei Deputy Mayor Charles Lin (林欽榮) said.
There are 4,258 households and 11,135 residents on Shezidao, and the city government plans to build about 4,500 resettlement units and provide rental subsidies, he said.
The city government needs to continue planning, pass the second phase of the environmental impact assessment, hold public hearings on resettlement and zonal expropriation plans, and gain approval for the plans before construction can begin, Lin said, adding that the city hopes to start building in June next year at the earliest.
Taiwan yesterday expelled four China Coast Guard vessels that entered Taiwan-controlled restricted waters off Lienchiang County (Matsu) shortly after the Chinese People’s Liberation Army announced the start of its “Joint Sword-2024B” drills around Taiwan. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a statement that it had detected two China Coast Guard ships west of Nangan Island (南竿) and another two north of Dongyin Island (東引) at 8am yesterday. After Chinese ships sailed into restricted waters off Matsu shortly afterward, the CGA’s Kinmen-Matsu-Penghu Branch deployed four patrol vessels to shadow and approach the vessels, it said. The incidents pushed up to 44 the number
Renovations on the B3 concourse of Taipei Main Station are to begin on Nov. 1, with travelers advised to use entrances near the Taiwan Railway or high-speed rail platforms or information counter to access the MRT’s Red Line. Construction is to be completed before the end of next year, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said last week. To reduce the impact on travelers, the NT$95 million (US$2.95 million) project is to be completed in four stages, it said. In the first stage, the hall leading to the Blue Line near the art exhibition area is to be closed from Nov. 1 to the end
Taipei’s Ximending (西門町) shopping area welcomed the most international visitors, followed by Taipei 101, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park and Yangmingshan National Park (陽明山國家公園), a list of the city’s most popular tourist attractions published by the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism showed. As of August, 69.22 million people had visited Taipei’s main tourism spots, a 76 percent increase from 39.33 million in the same period last year, department data showed. Ximending had 20.21 million visitors, followed by Taipei 101 at 8.09 million, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park at 6.28 million, Yangmingshan at 4.51 million and the Red House Theater (西門紅樓) in
The government has issued a deportation order for a Spanish fugitive, ordering him to leave the country within 10 days, as he is wanted by European authorities for allegedly operating a car rental scam. National Immigration Agency (NIA) officials yesterday said Salvador Alejandro Llinas Onate, 48, had been notified that he must leave Taiwan, as he was wanted for committing serious crimes. The Spaniard has been indicted by Italian prosecutors for allegedly leading a 30 million euros (US$32.74 million) car rental scam and setting up a fraudulent company in Trento, Italy. The deportation order is based on Article 18 of
RSS