Taipei City Government

Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-Je attended the Jinzhou Public Housing groundbreaking ceremony on the morning of February 11.

During his speech, he commented that the government must cater to people’s daily needs more closely; rather than pointing fingers and arguing with one another, the government should carry out its daily functions diligently, including public housing. Jinzhou Public Housing in Zhongshan District conducted a groundbreaking ceremony today. With a site area of 5,200m2, the NT$2.2 billion building has 4 basement floors and 20 floors aboveground. After completion, it will provide homes for 387 households.

The mayor added that the project is slated for completion in 2023, so from now on all the public housing projects breaking ground will be finished by the next mayor. Nonetheless, the current city hall administration will continue to see the projects through because city construction is an ongoing process that will be passed on from administration to administration, so the city government will keep on forging ahead.

Ko pointed out that Taipei City’s public housing has 4 major themes (4 major targets). The first is to promote housing justice; since the government is unable to make houses affordable for everyone within a short period of time, the least it can do is provide young people with quality, affordable rental housing, thereby resolving housing justice-related issues including high rent and expensive houses. The next issue is urban aesthetics, and public housing must be elegantly designed instead of looking like matchboxes. At the same time, such public construction projects will facilitate industry developments, particularly the smart building industry. More importantly, old public housings were not welcomed by local communities because they introduce zero benefits to the region; therefore, when building new public housings, the city government must place emphasis on community development. After the Jinzhou Public Housing is inaugurated, it will be equipped with activity areas for senior citizens, a community activity center, a not-for-profit kindergarten, and a public daycare. In other words, children aged 0 to 2, 2 to 6, and senior citizens are all taken care of. In addition, the community activity center will also incorporate the concept of farm city. Ko mentioned that a public housing project serves multiple objectives along multiple dimensions, hence the city government will place more emphasis on quality in an effort to obtain the 4 major labels of architecture including smart building, accessibility, green building, and earthquake resistance.

Mayor Ko commented that with joint efforts from the construction crew and the city government, the high-quality public housing project will be completed as soon as possible. Looking at the buildings around the site, Ko said that urban regeneration is needed for some of them, so he hopes that the construction of the public housing will facilitate the urban regeneration of these buildings – the ultimate goal of the project.

He thanked Taipei City Council for approving a sufficient budget to launch the public housing project. At the same time, he also extended his gratitude to the local borough chiefs and residents for their support and assistance. As the first public housing in Zhongshan District, it will feature a community activity center, daycare center, and kindergarten, thus it is believed to benefit the local citizens tremendously. Ko appealed for the borough chiefs to knock on more doors to expedite the urban regeneration projects, and he also prayed for the successful groundbreaking of the Jinzhou Public Housing.