The Control Yuan issued corrective measures against the Public Construction Commission (PCC) and the Taipei City Government yesterday in connection with the construction of the Taipei Dome Complex.
The complex will occupy about 18 hectares on the former site of the Song Shan Tobacco Factory in Xinyi District (信義).
It will feature an indoor 40,000-seat stadium, hotels, department stores, a shopping center and an office building.
Control Yuan member Huang Huang-hsiung (黃煌雄) told a press conference that the Public Construction Commission had infringed upon the authority of the Taipei City Government by annulling decisions about the construction made by a city review commission on three separate occasions.
The city government was forced to make major changes to its construction plan after its initial reviews were rejected by the commission, Huang said.
The city government itself, however, was charged with failing to refer the revised construction plan to its review commission for approval, a violation of the Act for Promotion of Private Participation in Infrastructure Projects (促進民間參與公共建設法), Huang said.
Meanwhile, the Control Yuan also demanded the Sports Affairs Council standardize the criteria used in issuing swimming coach and lifeguard certificates to ensure the quality of the qualifications was standardized.
The council, which is the regulatory authority for swimming pool operators, was charged with dereliction of duty by the government watchdog for failing to establish specific measures to govern the certificates.
Control Yuan members Cheng Jen-hung (程仁宏) and Huang Wu-tzu (黃武次) investigated the issue and found that the certificates were issued by different agencies that didn’t follow the same standards.
“The Sports Affairs Council is required by the National Sports Act (國民體育法), passed in 2000, to promulgate standards for the certificates, but no such criteria has been established in the past nine years,” Cheng said.
DEFENSE: The National Security Bureau promised to expand communication and intelligence cooperation with global partners and enhance its strategic analytical skills China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today. Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said. In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
RSS