The Taipei City Government will form a negotiation task force to settle problems in the Taipei Dome construction project with the contractor, Farglory Group (遠雄集團).
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said the city government received formal corrective measures from the Control Yuan yesterday, and the commissioner of Taipei City’s Law and Regulation Commission, Yeh Ching-yuan (葉慶元), would head the task force to negotiate with the company in an attempt to fix the 39 problems presented by the Control Yuan.
“We will contact Farglory and start the negotiation process immediately to fix the problems and conform with the Control Yuan’s demands,” Hau said at Taipei City Hall. “We do not rule out the possibility of ending the contract with Farglory if it refuses to cooperate.”
IMAGE COURTESY OF FARGLORY GROUP
The Control Yuan said the city government failed to refer the revised construction plan to its review commission for approval, and that demanded the city government and the contractor fix 39 problems with the project, including changing subcontractors and the design of the stadium, as well as expanding the building from three stories to four to create more space for department stores.
The city government was given two months to revise the contract according to the corrective measures and present a report to the Control Yuan.
Hau said the corrective measures presented the city government with an opportunity to reexamine the project, but stressed that the city government would not consider alternate plans for the land before the contract issue is resolved.
Yeh said one of the demands from the city government would be asking Farglory to replace the subcontractors.
The negotiation team would include Yeh, commissioner of Administrative Appeals Commission Chen Ye-sin (陳業鑫) and executive secretary of the Taipei Dome construction project, Chang Kang-wei (張綱維).
Yeh said the team would contact Farglory on Monday to start the negotiation process, and said the city government was confident the task force could settle the issue.
Yeh declined to discuss details of the negotiation, and refused to comment on Farglory chairman Chao Teng-hsiung’s (趙藤雄) threat to ask for compensation if the city government decided to end the contract.
“We have been following the contract and doing everything according to the regulations. I am confident that the city government would gain the upper hand [if the case was brought to court],” he said.
The Control Yuan’s probe into the project stemmed from complaints filed by environmentalists who oppose the removal of more than 700 old trees to make way for the construction, which will occupy about 18 hectares on the former site of the Songshan Tobacco Factory in Xinyi District (信義).
Construction of the Dome, which would feature an indoor 40,000-seat stadium, hotels, department stores, a shopping center and office building, had originally been scheduled to begin earlier this year.
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
City buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the Taipei MRT, would on Saturday begin accepting QR code payments from five electronic payment providers, the Taipei Department of Transportation said yesterday. The new option would allow passengers to use the “transportation QR code” feature from EasyWallet, iPass Money, iCash Pay, Jkopay or PXPay Plus. Passengers should open their preferred electronic payment app, select the “transportation code” — not the regular payment code — unlock it, and scan the code at ticket readers or gates, General Planning Division Director-General Liu Kuo-chu (劉國著) said. People should move through the
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) today released images of the military tracking China’s People's Liberation Army (PLA) movements during the latest round of Chinese drills around Taiwan. The PLA began "Justice Mission 2025" drills today, carrying out live-fire drills, simulated strikes on land and maritime targets, and exercises to blockade the nation's main ports. The exercises are to continue tomorrow, with the PLA announcing sea and air space restrictions for five zones around Taiwan for 10 hours starting from 8:30am. The ministry today released images showing a Chinese J-16 fighter jet tracked by a F-16V Block 20 jet and the
RSS