Taipei City Government wraps up BOT investigations

2015/06/12

Investigations into five major build-operate-transfer projects were concluded June 10 by Taipei City Government, with four referred for further review by either the Control Yuan or Ministry of Justice.

Taipei Dome, Mei Ho Shi, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, and Syntrend Creative Park are red-flag BOTs, with an aborted twin-tower project adjacent to Taipei Main Station in the clear after the winning bidder failed to prove its financial ability to carry out the plan, according to TCG’s Clean Government Committee.

Deputy Taipei Mayor Deng Chia-chi said the decision to look into these cases is in line with the government’s commitment to exposing irregularities and promoting clean governance through expanded public participation.

“We will learn from the mistakes of these BOTs and set up new standard procedures regulating key issues such as operations, profit-sharing and public safety.”

Taipei Dome, awarded to Farglory Dome Co. Ltd. in 2006, is under the microscope due to TCG handing over a prime piece of downtown real estate for construction without seeking commensurate returns. A committee official said this is believed to constitute an act of channeling illegal profits to the developer.

Regarding Mei Ho Shi, the committee said land provided to developer Radium Life Tech Co. Ltd. was undervalued. In addition, a promise was made of providing apartment units in exchange for the rights to build a metro station and apartment complex in New Taipei City’s Xindian District.

As for Songshan Cultural and Creative Park developed by Fubon Group, the committee said the decision to reduce the project concession fee from NT$1.5 billion (US$48.1 million) to NT$1.2 billion circumvented existing procedures, resulting in an unreasonably low figure.

Concerning Syntrend Creative Park, the committee found decisions designating the development as a BOT project and setting the concession fee at NT$1 billion to be highly questionable.

“We are recommending the MOJ look into Taipei Dome and Mei Ho Shi, with the Control Yuan picking over Songshan and Syntrend,” the official said.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=231386&ctNode=413)