Taipei City councilors on Tuesday proposed additional subsidies to encourage the demolition and reconstruction of buildings in the city made using concrete that contains sea sand.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The use of sea sand in construction “will accelerate rebar corrosion and result in flaking of the concrete in blocks, severely damaging the building’s structure” in the long term, the city government’s Web site says.
The city currently offers a subsidy of NT$200,000 per household within a building, toward the cost of demolishing structurally unsound buildings.
If passed, the proposal would add an additional subsidy of NT$600,000 per household toward the cost of structural-safety appraisals, which could be implemented as soon as next month using an NT$6 million special budget, Department of Urban Development head Wang Yu-fen (王玉芬) said during Tuesday’s city council meeting.
The subsidies would also be included in the city’s annual budget starting next year, if passed, she said.
Chinese Nationalist Party Taipei City Councilor Wang Chih-bin (汪志冰) proposed the appraisal subsidy, saying it would encourage those living in high-risk buildings to take action to protect their safety.
There are currently 96 buildings in the city that were built using concrete containing sea sand, she said, adding that many buildings go unappraised due to the high costs involved, and the lack of consensus on appraisal and reconstruction among building residents.
A large contributor toward that lack of consensus is that many older buildings lack a management office, and residents must share the cost of building appraisals between themselves, Independent Taipei City Councilor Chen Cheng-chung (陳政忠) said.
Chen also suggested that the budget for the appraisal subsidy should be doubled to NT$12 million starting next year.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Actor Lee Wei (李威) was released on bail on Monday after being named as a suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in the meeting place of a Buddhist group in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) last year, prosecutors said. Lee, 44, was released on NT$300,000 (US$9,148) bail, while his wife, surnamed Chien (簡), was released on NT$150,000 bail after both were summoned to give statements regarding the woman’s death. The home of Lee, who has retreated from the entertainment business in the past few years, was also searched by prosecutors and police earlier on Monday. Lee was questioned three
RSS