A cross-dike platform is among the plans for an urban renewal project in Taipei’s Datong District (大同), officials from the Taipei City Government’s Department of Urban Development said yesterday.
“Because of the reinforced concrete river dike, it is difficult for people inside [the city] to view the fine scenery outside [the river dike],” department chief engineer Chang Li-li (張立立) said. “However, if we add a platform, it would be possible to walk on it and view Guanyin Mountain (觀音山) on the opposite bank.”
He added that the planting of a garden over the platform would address the area’s lack of green space.
The design calls for an estimated NT$1.4 billion (US$44.87 million) to be spent on constructing a 1km platform from the smaller Dihua Platform south to the Taipei Bridge.
Chang added that the new platform was designed to spur urban renewal by offering new opportunities for developments that would have direct connections to the park above Huanhe N Road (環河北路).
Building projects that connect to the platform would be charged annual fees to help the city recoup construction costs, he said.
As one of Taipei’s oldest districts, construction plans in Datong are central to the city government’s plans for urban renewal, with at least three publicly managed urban renewal projects under discussion, Chang said.
In contrast to other Taipei districts, where new public housing construction is planned, the city plans to increase public housing in the Datong district mainly through leasing and refurbishing abandoned buildings, Chang said.
Details of city plans are tentative pending a public hearing with local residents on July 25, he said.
Guoshun Borough (國順) Warden Chen Ying-hui (陳穎慧) said that in principle she fully supports city-sponsored urban renewal and the platform construction plans, but she is still unclear about the details.
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