By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀) yesterday brought up the decade-old issue of relocating the Legislative Yuan, urging the legislature to carry out the move as soon as possible.
The legislature should be relocated to the site that previously housed the Ministry of National Defense’s Air Force Command Headquarters, which has been relocated to Taipei’s Dazhi District (大直), Chen told a press conference.
The legislature pays NT$53.23 million (US$1.78 million) a year in rent to the Taipei City Government for its present site.
Even though a relocation proposal was submitted in 1992 and the proposal was passed with a budget of NT$10 billion, the legislature remains at the same location 20 years later, Chen said.
“The inaction on relocation, a plan that has been approved, is very ironic for the Legislative Yuan as a law-making institution. Paying so much rent every year is a waste of public funds,” he said.
Given the density of the neighborhood, the timeworn buildings and the less-than-satisfactory equipment and interior design, the legislature “doesn’t look like a national congress at all,” he said.
As the 7.2 hectare block where the air force command used to be is exceptional for both its size and prime location, Chen said he feared it would be purchased and developed by a property developer in the future.
However, Kuo Hsio-jung (郭曉蓉), an official of the National Property Administration, said the land would not be developed as a housing project after it was transferred back to the administration from the defense ministry without the agency’s approval.