Taipei City Government’s domain claims in connection to the Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda Line extension were unlawful, the Taipei High Administrative Court ruled yesterday.
The verdict could be appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court.
The city government promulgated the MRT Wanda-Zhonghe-Shulin rezoning plan in 2015 and its implementation plan in the following year, the court said in the verdict.
Photo: CNA
A 693m2 property was to be appropriated to allow the construction of emergency exits, ventilation shafts, office space and other facilities for the engineering site to build the MRT LG04 station in Wanhua District, it said.
The Taipei City Government apparently intended to use a 260m2 portion of the property for the MRT system, while a 433m2 portion was to be rezoned as a residential area, the court said.
The property’s owner, a British Virgin Islands-based corporation named Sheng Feng Investments, refused to sell it to the government, it said.
The Taipei City Government sought to solve the issue by asking the Ministry of the Interior to authorize the compulsory requisition of the properties, which was granted in March 2019, it said.
Sheng Feng Investments sued the municipality and the ministry, it said.
The court found the government’s actions regarding the properties to be unlawful due to a failure to comply with the balance of interests, it said, adding that urban planning should consider interests of the involved parties.
Taipei City Government owned a property abutting Sheng Feng Investment’s lands, but officials should have attempted to use that property more efficiently, instead of conducting the takeover of a private property, the court said.
The municipality also failed to take into account that its plans deprived people already living on that property of their homes, it said.
The court found the plans to be in contravention of the regulations established under the Urban Planning Act (都市計畫法), it said.
The Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said it has not received the verdict yet and reserves its right to respond at a later time.
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