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On the 8th, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wanan announced plans to relocate Songshan Airport and plan the airport and approximately 300 hectares of surrounding land into 100 hectares of AI industrial clusters, 90 hectares of residential and public facilities, and 110 hectares of parkland. Planes are still taking off and landing, and the land uses have been divided into three areas; citizens cannot see how the numbers are formed and how different uses are chosen.
On the 8th, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wanan announced plans to relocate Songshan Airport and plan the airport and approximately 300 hectares of surrounding land into 100 hectares of AI industrial clusters, 90 hectares of residential and public facilities, and 110 hectares of parkland. (File photo) The relocation of Songshan Airport involves civil aviation transportation, military needs and central decision-making. The city government uses Taoyuan Airport's third runway, which is expected to be operational in 2033, as the timetable. It still needs to explain how existing flights and military functions will be arranged, and how new traffic volume, transfer time and relocation costs will be estimated. The mayor can come up with ideas, but he cannot decide whether to stay at the airport based on a press conference alone; these conditions cannot wait until the land use is drawn up and then be calculated later.
Even if it can be relocated in the future, why is the land for the AI industry limited to 100 hectares? The city government should publish the company's actual land needs, development costs and output value estimation period. Is the so-called output value of 12 trillion yuan accumulated over a long period of time or in a specific year? What industries and calculation assumptions are involved? If there is no way to test it, 100 hectares may become a reserved seat for investment promotion slogans, and other public needs will be excluded before discussion.
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There are a total of 90 hectares of residential and public facilities. How much is social housing, affordable housing or market housing? How much land will be occupied by the schools, medical care, roads and public transportation required by the new residents? Can the 110 hectares of green space be opened continuously, connect the Keelung Riverbank, and reduce the risk of heat islands and flooding? With only the total area and no comparison of service targets and benefits, there is no way to know whether the allocation is reasonable.
There are already dense communities and road systems surrounding Songji. If the airport fence is opened, land prices, traffic flow and living environment will all change, and the benefits will not be automatically distributed equally to citizens. The city must go beyond describing business opportunities to investors; it must also involve affected residents, commuters and those in need of public housing in the choice of uses.
Jiang Wanan can advocate relocation and strive for AI investment, but as mayor, he should first propose conditions for cross-agency coordination, and then disclose various land needs, alternative configurations, and cost-effectiveness for citizens to compare. Three hundred hectares is a rare large-scale land reallocation in Taipei. We cannot divide the land first and then ask the public to applaud the beautiful blueprint.
There are already dense communities and road systems surrounding Songshan Airport. (File photo) (The author is a retired person)
