Taipei yesterday inaugurated the world's first restaurant built on a waste incinerator chimney. The Peitou incinerator revolving restaurant and its viewing platform yesterday began operation with city officials saying it was a gift to Taipei citizens for the new millennium.
More than seven thousand people swarmed to the restaurant, entitled Star-plucking Building (
Conducting the inauguration ceremony, Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
"No one had even thought that at a place to burn garbage, you can enjoy dinner while taking in the beauty of Taipei," said Ma.
Ma also promised residents of Peitou and Shilin (
The viewing platform will be open free of charge to Peitou and Shilin residents. The entrance fee otherwise will be NT$40 for 30 minutes.
Ma also promised to build a warm-water swimming pool for Peitou and Shihlin citizens to use free of charge.
The revolving restaurant is powered with energy generated by the incinerator.
"This is a great example of recycling energy resources," said Eric Chu (
The incinerator is located at Chou-mei borough (
From the restaurant, which is 30m below the top of the tower, the view includes the estuary of the Tamshui river and its bird reservation, Chu said. "From the viewing platform, which is four meters below the restaurant, you can also see Yangming Shan (陽明山), Kuan-yin Shan (觀音山) and the whole of the Taipei Basin," he said.
According to Chu, the estuary and bird reservation will not be affected by the incinerator. Waste air emitted from the incinerator will undergo a detoxification process.
Chu said the dioxin release rate of the Peitou incinerator is far below the standard rate of 0.1 ng/Nm3. An investigation by the Environmental Protection Administration in 1998 indicated the rate for the Peitou incinerator is 0.06 ng/Nm3, Chu said.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
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