Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) yesterday said the city was waiting for an "east wind" to fill the sails of its bid to build a world-class Guggenheim museum after the foundation behind the museum's name approved the project.
Hu is standing by for a promised NT$3.2 billion subsidy from the central government, without which, he claims, the project cannot get off the ground.
Hu also hopes the government will boost the subsidy by a further NT$2 billion.
At a press conference in Taichung yesterday, Hu announced that the US-based Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation has agreed to support Taichung's bid to build a Guggenheim museum.
"The foundation gave a formal response to me last night, saying it will support our bid as long as we can get all the money we need," Hu said.
"At the moment, we are ready to set sail although we are still waiting for the east wind to come," he said. "Today is the deadline for the Executive Yuan to answer our request for a subsidy of NT$5.2 billion.
"We have no intention to push for an answer immediately. We will wait for an answer with patience and optimism," he said.
The Cabinet said it would have to understand more about the project before making a decision on the subsidy.
If the government withholds the subsidy, it is doubtful that the Guggenheim project will go ahead. The Guggenheim Foundation has already said it is worried about Taichung City Government's ability to fund the museum.
The total cost of the project is expected to be around NT$6.4 million.
Hu told reporters yesterday that an assessment report on the project showed that a Guggenheim museum in Taichung would bring more than 1.2 million visitors to the city a year. The record for the number of visitors to a Guggenheim museum was made in 2001 when 930,000 people visited the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain.
The assessment report also said the museum would earn the city and central government an annual tax revenue of NT$300 million to NT$700 million as well as create an estimated 2,700 jobs, including 870 permanent ones.
The operation of the Guggenheim museum would generate a deficit of NT$280 million to NT$400 million a year, which could be balanced by annual subsidies from the central government, the assessment said.
"An annual subsidy of NT$100 million from the central government and city government would help the museum operate smoothly," Hu said.
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
POOR IMPLEMENTATION: Teachers welcomed the suspension, saying that the scheme disrupted school schedules, quality of learning and the milk market A policy to offer free milk to all school-age children nationwide is to be suspended next year due to multiple problems arising from implementation of the policy, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday. The policy was designed to increase the calcium intake of school-age children in Taiwan by drinking milk, as more than 80 percent drink less than 240ml per day. The recommended amount is 480ml. It was also implemented to help Taiwanese dairy farmers counter competition from fresh milk produced in New Zealand, which is to be imported to Taiwan tariff-free next year when the Agreement Between New Zealand and
A woman who allegedly spiked the food and drinks of an Australian man with rat poison, leaving him in intensive care, has been charged with attempted murder, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. The woman, identified by her surname Yang (楊), is accused of repeatedly poisoning Alex Shorey over the course of several months last year to prevent the Australian man from leaving Taiwan, prosecutors said in a statement. Shorey was evacuated back to Australia on May 3 last year after being admitted to intensive care in Taiwan. According to prosecutors, Yang put bromadiolone, a rodenticide that prevents blood from
A Japanese space rocket carrying a Taiwanese satellite blasted off yesterday, but was later seen spiraling downward in the distance as the company said the launch attempt had failed. It was the second attempt by the Japanese start-up Space One to become the country’s first private firm to put a satellite into orbit, after its first try in March ended in a mid-air explosion. This time, its solid-fuel Kairos rocket had been carrying five satellites, including one from the Taiwan Space Agency and others designed by Japanese students and corporate ventures. Spectators gathered near the company’s coastal Spaceport Kii launch pad in Japan’s
RSS