A review committee yesterday gave conditional approval to the Taipei Dome construction project, paving the way for the construction of the long-stalled building amid ongoing protests by environmental activists who oppose the 500,000m2 commercial complex in downtown Xinyi District (信義).
Taipei City’s Environmental Impact Assessment Review Committee, by a vote of eight to five, approved the project on the condition that the developer reduce the size of the commercial facilities at the complex and increase the number of parking spaces.
The size of the commercial facilities, including a shopping mall, movie theater, hotel and office space, should be cut by 17.4 percent to 202,610m2, while parking space should be increased to 187,965m2, the committee said.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
The conditions also included adding another lane to Zhongxiao E Road, presenting a traffic plan that avoids traffic congestion in residential areas along the road and acquiring environmentally friendly building certification.
Committee chair Wu Sheng-chong (吳聖忠), commissioner of the city’s Department of Environmental Protection, said after the three-hour meeting that the developer should meet all the requirements before construction can begin.
The decision put an end to the long-delayed environmental impact assessment for the project.
Committee members expressed concern about the profit-driven design of the complex and said the developer should devote more space to sports, while presenting comprehensive solutions to traffic congestion, among other environmental impacts.
Farglory Group, the developer, signed a contract with the city government in 2005 and planned to invest more than NT$23 billion (US$700 million) in the complex at the abandoned Songshan Tobacco Factory on Zhongxiao E Road, which would include a 40,000-seat indoor stadium.
Tsai Chung-i (蔡宗易), vice president of the group’s public relations department, said the company would estimate the impact of reducing the size of the commercial facilities on future profits, declining to confirm whether the company would continue with the project.
“[The conditional approval] of the Taipei Dome project is good news for the public because Taiwan needs a professional sports venue to host international events,” Tsai said after the meeting at Taipei City Hall. “However, as the contractor, we need to make sure for our shareholders that the operation of the complex is profitable.”
Environmental groups were not satisfied with the outcome.
Taiwan Green Party spokesman Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) said city officials accounted for seven of the 13 committee members and Pan accused the city government of hijacking the review process.
“The review process and the voting were against procedural justice,” he said.
Farglory should send a revised project plan to the city’s urban development committee for approval, before applying for a construction license if it decides to cooperate with the requirements, the committee said.
An alleged US government plan to encourage Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) to form a joint venture with Intel to boost US chipmaking would place the Taiwanese foundry giant in a more disadvantageous position than proposed tariffs on imported chips, a semiconductor expert said yesterday. If TSMC forms a joint venture with its US rival, it faces the risk of technology outflow, said Liu Pei-chen (劉佩真), a researcher at the Taiwan Industry Economics Database of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research. A report by international financial services firm Baird said that Asia semiconductor supply chain talks suggest that the US government would
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Starlux Airlines on Tuesday announced it is to launch new direct flights from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Ontario, California, on June 2. The carrier said it plans to deploy the new-generation Airbus A350 on the Taipei-Ontario route. The Airbus A350 features a total of 306 seats, including four in first class, 26 in business class, 36 in premium economy and 240 in economy. According to Starlux’s initial schedule, four flights would run between Taoyuan and Ontario per week: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Flights are to depart from Taoyuan at 8:05pm and arrive in California at 5:05pm (local time), while return flights
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
RSS