Residents angry at ‘Taipei Dome’ project

The residents said the “Taipei Dome” project has been kept entirely in a “black box,” and the government and contractor arranged the meeting without really meaning to seek the communities’ advice.

The contractor, Farglory Group, and the city government arranged the meeting with the residents from Daan, Xinyi, and Songshan districts to explain the transportation planning for the project.

But the meeting was overwhelmed by heated arguments and protests, and ended without a conclusion after the resident walked out in protest.

Farglory in October 2006 signed a contract with the city government — then under the administration of Ma Ying-jeou, who is now president of the country — to run the project on a BOT (build-operate transfer) basis.

The developer plans to spend more than NT$23 billion in the 429,000-square-meter complex — called the Taipei Culture and Sports District, or the “Taipei Dome.”

The complex, which includes a 40,000-seat indoor stadium and surrounding shopping and residential districts, is scheduled for completion by 2010.

Work has yet to begin, as Farglory has yet to obtain a construction permit, which will depend on the project’s passing of the transportation assessment.

But the location of the Taipei Dome at the historic Songshan Tobacco Factory at the corner of Zhongxiao East Road and Guangfu South Road is a major issue.

Local residents fear that the stadium will create traffic nightmares in an already congested downtown area of the city.

“The completion of the Taipei Dome will completely paralyze the traffic in the neighborhood... All residents will become victims. Therefore we cannot accept it,” a resident, Aaron Huang, was cited by the Central News Agency as saying.

A ward chief from Xinyi district, Lee Tsai-chiou, said they need a forest park where they can relax instead of a traffic nightmare.

“This is collusion between businessmen and government officials,” another resident shouted during the meeting. “It is evident that the government is profiting a certain conglomerate.”

The residents noted that the city government never consulted them before signing the BOT contract with Farglory.

They said that they had been left out of three previous meetings at which transportation plans for the stadium complex were assessed.

They demanded that the contractor and the city reassess the project, and call it off if necessary.

But Tsai Chung-yi, an executive from Farglory’s public affairs department, told the CNA that on the city government’s advice, the company had invited experts to previous meetings to help assess traffic issues related to project.

Those experts were in fact representing the interests of local residents, Tsai claimed.

Tsai said Farglory was sincere in communicating with the local residents, but the meeting was ruined by people with a “political agenda.”

The company did present measures to ease congestion, but Kuomintang Taipei City Councilor Lee Ching-yuan dismissed the them as useless and impractical.

“To build such a big complex right in the heart of the city is absolutely senseless,” Lee said. “No advanced countries or even the Olympic stadiums in Beijing were built in the city center.”

He urged Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin reevaluate the project, as he does not need to accept a wrong decision made by his predecessor.

City Councilor Hung Chien-yi from the Democratic Progressive Party said the project would definitely paralyze transportation in the area.

“It is not only a joke but also has no chance to succeed,” Hung said. “The rights of the general public are sacrificed for the profits of a big company.”

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