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Taipei calls for bids on six major city projects
By Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter
The Taipei City Government yesterday announced a call for bids for six major city development projects.
With notable sites including the former Taipei City Council building and a proposed Zhongshan Design Industry Park, the call for bids include surface rights leases as well as joint development, urban renewal and build-operate-transfer (BOT) projects.
Other sites include a National Taiwan University property on Shaoxing S Street (紹興南街), logistics facilities for the Neihu Technology Park, a development project for the Dingpu (頂埔) MRT Station and a bus transfer station in the north of the city.
Taipei Deputy Mayor Charles Lin (林欽榮) said that under new city rules governing the bidding process, bids would be weighed based on their contribution to public benefit rather than on cost alone.
The city government itself would take responsibility for the permit application process to ensure that winners do not get “stuck” during the construction process, he said.
A number of banks have expressed interest in a city-hosted information session on the projects next week, Lin said, adding that even Farglory Group (遠雄集團) chairman Chao Teng-hsiung (趙藤雄) would be welcome as long as he abided by city procedures.
The city government is currently locked in conflict with Farglory over the Taipei Dome BOT project’s safety and contract terms.
Department of Finance Commissioner Su Jain-rong (蘇建榮) said a major problem with the Dome and other controversial BOT projects was the inflexibility of site use royalties, adding that new rules linking royalties more closely to profits would put the city and corporations “in the same boat.”
Lin said that further calls for bids would be made every quarter in the future, with surface right leases for the Xinyi District Office land next to the Shilin Main Presidential Residence to be made in the near future.
He added that calls for bids to develop the Taipei Twin Towers site would be made next year.
Meanwhile, Lin said that the removal of Taipei Songshan Airport would “brook no delay,” adding that he had already arranged for a meeting with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications on the matter after the Civil Aeronautics Administration requested a meeting on Thursday.
He said the city government was willing to cooperate with the central government on opening up central government land near Songshan airport for development under the principle that the airport would be removed.
Lin said the city government would next month establish a committee to study the possible removal of the airport and future development plans, with possible topics including adding an MRT line through the site, creating broad swathes of green space, relocating central government buildings to the site and removing restrictions on the height of surrounding buildings.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiw.../04/2003622241