Taipei Twin Towers

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
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The West side of the city is a fucking embarrassment, I applaud them for putting some nice shit down there for a change instead of jamming it around 101. This city can no longer expand East, they gotta start rebuilding the disaster area that goes from West of Zhongshan bay loo to the river, Christ, even Banqiao is nicer than that now.

Why do some posters insist on shitting and moaning every time something positive gets done?

“They should build a park.”

The fuck out with that nonsense, have you been to parks here? Most of them are fucking concrete or stamped concrete blocks meant to look like stone. But to be fair, no one in this country can grow grass properly (despite the insane amount of rain) so they have no real choice.

Taiwanese live here, they like shiny shit, air-conditioned environments and places to dump their cash. Give them what they want, especially if it makes the ass end of this city look a little more presentable.

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That video makes (the imaginary proposed version of) Taipei look like Tokyo.

Seeing is believing!

Guy

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[quote=“Deuce Dropper”]The West side of the city is a fucking embarrassment, I applaud them for putting some nice shit down there for a change instead of jamming it around 101. This city can no longer expand East, they gotta start rebuilding the disaster area that goes from West of Zhongshan bay loo to the river, Christ, even Banqiao is nicer than that now.

[/quote]

They are bit by bit. Dihua Street will be quite something in another 10 years I think. If they could knock down and rebuild that horrible market structure midway up it that would be a help.

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But that’s the only place to get curtains made for five bucks.

Shirley you jest!

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[quote=“Deuce Dropper”]The West side of the city is a fucking embarrassment, I applaud them for putting some nice shit down there for a change instead of jamming it around 101. This city can no longer expand East, they gotta start rebuilding the disaster area that goes from West of Zhongshan bay loo to the river, Christ, even Banqiao is nicer than that now.

Why do some posters insist on shitting and moaning every time something positive gets done?

“They should build a park.”

The fuck out with that nonsense, have you been to parks here? Most of them are fucking concrete or stamped concrete blocks meant to look like stone. But to be fair, no one in this country can grow grass properly (despite the insane amount of rain) so they have no real choice.

Taiwanese live here, they like shiny shit, air-conditioned environments and places to dump their cash. Give them what they want, especially if it makes the ass end of this city look a little more presentable.[/quote]

Well, I guess my only objection would be that they will build those apartments on a Mainland style kind of deal: you can live 10 years, 20 years, but never own them, sell them or pass them on to your kids.

We already have a nice park in this area, actually, two: the Huashan Park, which started as a concrete oasis, is now green and nice, and suitable for concerts and open door activities. And the Youth Park, which has been revitalized.

Lazy me would love to live in this part of the city. I like Changan, I like Linsen. But the places I’ve seen for rent are… well, let’s say they are not my cup of tea. Even rats stay away. Or they are on top of bars/next to KTVs. That will not do, either. I’m thinking maybe Chengde Road, or between Taipei Bridge and Daquiaotou Stations, that area has some interesting developments, could be nice.

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The fuck with parks? Hell the fuck with sewers and clean air and pavements too, why not?
And yes plenty of people wanted songshan airport to be a city park, but developers have other plans. Same as the place on Zhongxiao road opposite the postage stamp that is SYS park that is being turned into a stadium- shopping mall-hotel.

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Green space reduces anxiety and depression.

My feeling is that most Taiwanese are so inured to the concrete and traffic that they don’t realize how stressful, or ugly, their own cityscapes are. The parks here are woeful. Daan Park is okay but for a metropolis’s premier park it is an embarrassment, as are the botanical gardens. The fact that many couples have their wedding photos shot by the dirty little ponds in CKS Memorial Hall is a good indicator of how uncultivated the appreciation of natural beauty is here in Taipei. I think the biggest problem is creating green space that is not beset my traffic noise. High walls around a park would go a long way to reducing it, unless there are elevated roads nearby, :laughing: like near the main station.

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There are some project is on-going in Taipei, for example Nan Shan Plaza at Xinyi District. It is one of the most promised large-scale project in Taipei.

Proposal 1 Earlier
36fl 28fl


Proposal 2 Recent

Taipei Main Station area, currently has some redevelopments in the progress, it will take another several years to complete.

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Has anyone read news about Gate of Taipei (Taipei Twin Towers) construction contract? Taipei city government said the dateline for signing contract with 1st priority bidder (Taipei Gateway International Development ) is 2013.02.21 .

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The models show the overpass gone and there is a “Memory Lane” going across Zhongxiao East Road and continuing north to Civic Blvd (is that where Yanping Road is now?). One picture shows it as a pedestrian walkway while another shows it with cars on it so it doesn’t look like it’s all thought out yet. [/quote]
I hope they adopt the pedestrian walkway idea. The way the north gate is set up now makes little sense. I’m all for perserving historic sites, but if you’re going to preserve a century-old historic structure, you should give people access to it, not keeping it isolated on an island that’s enshrouded in auto exhaust from the perennial heavy traffic surrounding it.[/quote]

Speaking of surrounding historic structures with fence… in 2004, before the South Gate was fenced off, I had a look inside and climbed to the top. Well, there was a bathroom up top and that’s about it. A little bit of a nice view, however.

Wow, that video makes it look like an exciting project with awesome public spaces.

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However, the bidding is end with corruption allegation. The suspects have been custody. I don’t know what is going to happen to this project. In other hand, Nanshan Plaza is going smoothly, they just send proposal to urban committe for approval.

Here is model they put in World Trade Center 2.


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Since Taipei needs more glossy hi-rises like it needs puttering scooters, I say this is good. Maybe they will finally turnthat area into the GREAT TAIPEI PARK they were promising years ago was about to open.

Anyway, saying a construction project in Taiwan is corrupt is redundant.

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Magazine claims three city councilors part of Twin Towers scandal

By Lauly Li, The China Post
May 9, 2013, 12:08 am TWN

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Taipei prosecutors yesterday said they will investigate claims made by a magazine that three Taipei city councilors may be involved in the Twin Towers bidding scandal, a charge that all three have rejected.

Next Magazine on Wednesday published an article claiming that Kuomintang (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Lee Ching-yuan (李慶元), Chin Li-fang (秦儷舫) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Councilor Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) were involved in the Twin Towers controversy. The three councilors reportedly bought high-end apartments at extremely low prices from a consortium with connections to Huang Cheng-kuo (黃承國), a figure suspected of involvement in the Twin Towers bidding scandal.

On Tuesday, Taipei prosecutors questioned Huang — a DPP member and vice chairman of the local consortium — as a suspect. Prosecutors allege that Huang violated the Company Act by helping the Twin Towers project’s now disqualified bidder, Taipei Gateway International Development Co. Ltd., (TGID, 太極雙星), to bribe city councilors in an attempt to win the bid in October 2012.

Next Magazine claimed the three city councilors’ purchase of the apartments was no coincident, suggesting instead that the apartments were a form of bribe from Huang that the three accepted, in the process guaranteeing their support for TGID’s bid.

City Councilors Reject Claims

In response, the three city councilors held a press conference yesterday morning rejecting the allegations.

Lee said he bought the apartment in 2009, which was before the TGID tendered the Twin Towers bid, therefore there is no connection between the apartment and the TGID. Lee said that he criticized the TGID on various occasions in the past, noting that he would not do this if he had accepted the TGID’s offer.

The building housing the three councilors’ apartments was completed in 2012.

Chin said there is no way she could have been involved in the Twin Towers case, as she is not a member of the city council’s transportation commission. Chin said that as she bought the apartment in 2010 it is reasonable that the apartment’s market price is higher now than when she bought it.

Chuang also denied any connection between his apartment and the Twin Towers bid, adding that the timing of the speculation is suspicious given that the Taipei prosecutor questioned Huang on Tuesday and Next Magazine published their article the following day.

Taipei prosecutors said they searched Huang’s consortium office on Tuesday as part of investigating fund sources for one of the other suspects, Cheng Hung-tao (程宏道), who has connections to TGID and is now being detained and held incommunicado over the case.

Prosecutors said they will continue investigating funds connected to TGID while also looking into Next Magazine’s claims.

Since the Taipei prosecutor began investigating the Twin Towers bid in March, more than 10 people, including three Taipei City Government officials have been questioned over the case.

KMT City Councilor Lai Su-ju (賴素如) and real estate developer Cheng Hung-tao were detained and held incommunicado at the end of March.

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Ex-officials to be questioned over Twin Towers

By Lauly Li, The China Post
May 14, 2013, 12:10 am TWN

TAIPEI, Taiwan – The Taipei City Council’s special Twin Towers investigative team yesterday said it had scheduled questioning for eight entities over the project’s bidding process.

Among the people and organizations to be questioned will be the former head of the Department of Rapid Transit Systems (DORTS), Richard Chen (陳椿亮).

The questioning will begin next Monday.

The city council’s cross-party investigative task force held its third meeting over the Twin Towers bid yesterday. New Party Taipei City Councilor Chen Yen-po (陳彥伯), who heads the team, said the investigation will look into four dimensions of the Twin Towers bid.

Chen said the task force aims to investigate the Twin Towers’ bidding process, the standards surrounding investor selection, the bid-review regulation and the events on Feb. 21 and Feb. 22, when the now disqualified bidder, Taipei Gateway International Development Co., Ltd. (TGID, 太極雙星), failed to deposit the required performance guarantee of NT$1.89 billion.

Chen said that next Monday the team is set to question former head of DORTS Richard Chen, TGID Chairman Michael Ho (何岳儒), TGID consultant Lai Shih-sheng (賴世聲), and Da Cin Construction Co., Ltd. (Da Cin, 達欣工程). The consortium lent land to TGID while the firm was tendering its Twin Towers’ bid.

The special investigative team will also question the second-place bidder and the third-place bidder regarding last year’s bidding process, Chen said.

The team does not rule out the possibility of questioning Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) to clarify details surrounding the bidding process, Chen said, noting however that the team has not yet organized a fixed schedule.

Kuomintang (KMT) City Councilor Yang Shih-chiu (楊實秋) said he received a call from the Investigation Bureau on April 30. Yang said a bureau official told him that in light of respecting the city council’s jurisdiction, the Investigation Bureau will not attend city council meetings regarding the Twin Towers investigation.

Yang said the Investigation Bureau told him that they will interview relevant officials in the Taipei City Government and city councilors to clarify their roles in the bidding process.

The Taipei City Government is currently organizing an accreditation agreement that is to be sent to BES. Once the agreement is sent to BES, the firm has 30 days to decide if they will consent to the terms proposed by the city government and sign the contract for the project, according to Taipei City Government.
chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/n…ficials-to.htm

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WILLIAMCHUNG YOU IN HERE TOO?? THIS IS RAZQAL FROM SSC/SSP!! NI HAO MA??? :smiley:

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HEY RAZQAL, HOW U DOING MAN? NEW IT WOZ U!
THEYZE GOT KEYBOARDS WITH CAPS LOCKS AT K-MART FOR 2.99, DIDN’T U SAY UZE WOZ LOOKING FOR 1?

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And people call the 60’s the over-optimistic decade! :smile:

hippie%20cartoon

1 Like
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Group takes over Twin Towers
FUNDING:Consortium head Kent Hsu said that 16 local lenders had agreed to provide loans for 60% and his own companies would provide the remaining 40%
By Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter

A local consortium is to take over development of the Twin Towers project near Taipei Railway Station after the original winner of the contract was removed due to national security concerns, the Taipei City Government said yesterday.

The local group — consisting of contract computer maker Clevo Co (藍天電腦) and its property development affiliate Hongwell Group (宏匯集團) — would take over the contract after meeting certain requirements, including submitting NT$1.9 billion (US$62.07 million), it said.

The consortium lost a contest in December last year to another consortium led by Hong Kong-based Nan Hai Development Ltd (南海發展) and Malaysian property developer Malton Berhad.

However, the Investment Commission in July revoked the approval, citing national security concerns.

Nan Hai Development is a unit of Nan Hai Holding Co (南海金控) that owns businesses in China, Hong Kong, North America, Europe and Australia in the culture and media sectors, property development and IT application services.

Nan Hai chairman Yu Pun-hoi (于品海) called the decision unfair and legally shaky, but failed in an attempt to appeal the decision in court.

The Taipei City Government said it would press ahead with the project after it had given Nan Hai sufficient time to submit its appeal.

The city government had previously been unsuccessful in its attempts to find developers for the project valued at NT$60 billion, which has been at the center of a series of bribery scandals over the past 20 years.

The local team welcomed the invitation, saying it has been ready since announcing its decision to enter the bidding last year.

Hongwell earlier said that it would work with US architecture and engineering firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP to build the complex.

The US firm is known for designing iconic buildings, with its portfolio including the One World Trade Center in New York and the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Hongwell said.

Clevo chairman and head of the consortium Kent Hsu (許坤泰) said that 16 local lenders had agreed to provide loans for 60 percent of the construction costs and his own companies would provide the remaining 40 percent.

Hsu added that he has previously made several property investments in conjunction with railway lines and Mass Rapid Transit systems.

The group is responsible for three such projects in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖) and New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang District (新莊).

The Twin Towers complex would add more than 60,000 ping (198,347m2) of commercial space to the area and create thousands of job opportunities.

“We want to roll up our sleeves and start construction right away,” Hsu said in a statement.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/…/19/2003724198
https://youtu.be/LO7-C0uThcc