A nursing home run by an organization believed to be affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) operated for more than 35 years without paying rent for the public land it occupies, the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee said yesterday.
The Cuei Bo Nursing Home, run by a subsidiary of the Chinese Association for Relief and Ensuing Services — which is believed to be a KMT-affiliated organization — occupies 24.2 hectares in New Taipei City’s Sijhih District (汐止).
The nursing home occupied the land for 35 years without paying rent and did not sign a lease for the property until November last year, the committee said.
During the Martial Law era, the government allocated NT$358.5 million (US$11.95 million at the current exchange rate) to build the nursing home, which was never repaid, and the association also owes NT$6.2 million in rent, the committee said.
Information from the National Property Administration shows that the agency reached an agreement with the nursing home’s owners to pay an initial NT$1 million and then NT$80,000 per month until the rent arrears are paid, it said.
Asked how the nursing home could operate for so long without paying rent, the committee said that the association had in July 1979 suggested establishing the facility to provide care for “elderly patriots who had resisted the Chinese communists” as well as retired public servants.
The Ministry of the Interior in September that year asked the Ministry of Finance for funds for the facility and in 1980 permission was granted for the use of the Sijhih site, the committee said.
From 1979 to 1982, the Ministry of Finance allocated a total of NT$358.5 million for the nursing home as more buildings were added, the committee said.
The final plans called for three phases of construction — for which funding was allocated — but only one phase was completed, it said.
The association in 1994 created the China Cultural Society Welfare Services Foundation and donated the facility to it, the committee said.
The Democratic Progressive Party had raised the question on nonpayment of rent in 2005 and the foundation continued to use the land for free until last year, when it made an arrangement with the National Property Administration, the committee said.
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