- Oversight & Council Questions System
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- NT$13,190,000 to repair a leased building, with only a year and a half left before it goes back? Pingtung's Artisan Town
EP08 · Petition routing
NT$13,190,000 to repair a leased building, with only a year and a half left before it goes back? Pingtung's Artisan Town
The grant's stated purpose did not match how the building is used, so the issue went to the National Audit Office, which has the authority to act; it has replied that it will open a special investigation.
- Capability
- Petition routing
- Published
- Length
- 0:54
- Format
- Shorts (9:16)
Original YouTube title: 花 1,319 萬修租來的房子，修好只剩一年半就要還？屏東職人町
The method behind this video
- Check ownership and the lease first: Artisan Town is a national government property leased by the county, originally an old Forestry Bureau dormitory, opened in 2019 (ROC year 108). In its opening year the local audit office already raised concerns about its performance. The lease ends at the end of next year.
- Match the project cost to the funding source: of the NT$13,190,000 seismic retrofit, NT$9,940,000 came from the Ministry of Labor's Forward-Looking Infrastructure grant, listed as "retrofit and reconstruction of hazardous public buildings: vocational training and labor center".
- Lay out the timeline: closed for ten months, reopened this April, about a year and a half left before the lease ends.
- Decide which agency should handle it: whether a grant's stated purpose matches its actual use falls under government audit authority, so the issue went to the National Audit Office, which has replied that it will open a special investigation.
- Leave a clear next question: what the land will be used for after it is returned. The county is asked to say so publicly.
Transcript
Show transcript
If you were renting a place with just over two years left on the lease, would you pay NT$13 million out of your own pocket to reinforce the landlord's structure?
Artisan Town is a national government building the county leases. It opened in 2019 (ROC year 108). In its opening year, the audit office already raised concerns about its performance.
Last year the county tendered a seismic retrofit for NT$13,190,000, including NT$9,940,000 in Forward-Looking Infrastructure funding from the Ministry of Labor.
It reopened with great fanfare this April. The lease ends at the end of next year: after the repairs, there is only a year and a half before it has to be handed back.
The Ministry of Labor grant was listed as being for a vocational training and labor center. Is Artisan Town a vocational training center? Is it a labor center?
Director of the Department of Labor and Youth Development, County Magistrate: spending over NT$10 million of public money for a year and a half of use is generous indeed.
Let me say this up front: once the land is returned, tell the public clearly what it will be used for. Don't let it quietly become a department store, a private parking lot, or an outsourced operation one day.
English translation of the Chinese voice-over. Personal names are replaced with job titles or "(name omitted)".
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