The Construction and Planning Agency yesterday denied that it deliberately stalled a review for the Taipei Dome project, adding that it would work with the Taipei City Government to expedite the review as long as the city can guarantee that the stadium is safe to use.
The NT$37 billion (US$1.3 billion) stadium is scheduled to be completed this year after construction that has lasted for nearly a decade.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on Wednesday said that the agency was purposely delaying its review of the stadium and making it difficult for the city to secure approval, adding that the Democratic Progressive Party government did not want to give Ko credit for completing the project during his term.
Ko said that he was elected mayor to resolve controversies over the project and did not consider the stadium one of his accomplishments, but added that the stadium’s contractor, Farglory Group, delivered a much better design than the one that was presented to his predecessor.
“We had insisted that Farglory change the design of the stadium’s B1 floor if it intended to make it a shelter, where people can go in emergency situations,” he said. “We have given the modified B1 floor plan to the agency. It should review it as quickly as possible, rather than deliberately stall it.”
The agency said that people are looking forward to the completion of the dome, adding that it is willing to assist the city government in completing relevant assessments as quickly as possible, as long as the city can assure the public of the stadium’s safety.
The Taipei Department of Urban Development should verify if the dome’s architects have accurately certified the B1 floor as an emergency shelter, the agency said.
“We had twice through official correspondence told the city government that it needed to explain why it suddenly respected the certification produced by the architects, when it had completely disagreed with their certification when it was first produced and strongly advocated that Farglory revise the design of the emergency shelter. They need to explain to us and the public the professional deliberations that led to the turn of events,” it said.
Instead of giving a detailed explanation, the city only said that it respected the certification of the architects and said nothing about the rationale for the decision, the agency said.
“We affirm the department’s efforts for finally clarifying through a statement issued on Wednesday night that it has verified B1 as an emergency shelter. We hope that it can quickly deliver those contents mentioned in the statement, and we will assist it in completing all the due procedures,” the agency said.
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The Taipei City Reserve Command yesterday initiated its first-ever 14-day recall of some of the city’s civilian service reservists, who are to undergo additional training on top of refresher courses. The command said that it rented sites in Neihu District (內湖), including the Taipei Tennis Center, for the duration of the camp to optimize tactical positioning and accommodate the size of the battalion of reservists. A battalion is made up of four companies of more than 200 reservists each, it said. Aside from shooting drills at a range in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), the remainder of the training would be at
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