Taipei government lambasted over closed food circle

DPP Taipei City councilors Huang Hsiang-chun (黃向群) accused the city government and the company of delaying the reopening of the circle at least six times in the past year and ignoring its development.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors lashed out at the Taipei City Government yesterday over the plight of the Jiancheng Circle (建成圓環) in Datong District (大同).

The circle at the intersection of Chongqing N Rd and Nanjing W Rd was once the oldest food market in the city.

Former mayor Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration spent more than NT$200 million (US$6.17 million) to turn the market into a modern, two-story building housing 25 food booths and a performing arts center.

But it finally conceded that the project was a failure and closed the building in July 2006 after it failed to attract business.

Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin’s (郝龍斌) administration signed a management contract with a private company to reopen the circle last year.

The government’s plan to reopen the circle as a food market with more than 20 food booths showed a lack of originality and would not help revive the facility, Chuang said during an inspection of the circle.

Since the circle was next to the Ningxia Night Market (寧夏夜市), which was famous for traditional snacks, reopening the circle as a food market would only prompt fierce competition between the two locations, Huang said.

Wang Meng-lung (王夢龍), a division chief at Taipei City’s Market Administration, could not explain to the city council why the reopening had been delayed, but said the city government would talk to the management company about reopening the site as soon as possible.