The "Kaohsiung City Mass Rapid Transit System Orange Line O10/Yellow Line Y18 Weiwuying Station Joint Development Project" was officially announced on March 30. Today (May 12th), Kaohsiung City Deputy Mayor Lin Chin-Jung personally presided over the investment promotion event. The city government also invited Chien Mei-Hui, Chief Secretary of the Agency Against Corruption of the Ministry of Justice (AAC), Zhuang Rung-Sung, Chief Prosecutor of Kaohsiung District Prosecutor's Office, Hung Hsin-Hsu, Prosecutor of Ciaotou District Prosecutors Office, and Luke H. C. Hsiao, Director of Transparency International Chinese Taipei(TI-CT), to jointly announce the establishment of the project’s Integrity Platform, with the commitment to promoting the project through a fair, just and transparent investment promotion process. The event attracted more than 20 developers and nearly 50 investors to attend, all of whom were enthusiastic in making suggestions and affirming that the Kaohsiung City Government continues to promote this project openly and transparently, while also fully demonstrating their high interest in this project.

Deputy Mayor Lin pointed out that this project is located at the border of Lingya and Fengshan districts, faces the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying) and Weiwuying Metropolitan Park with nearly 70 hectares of open and green space, and is a short 3-minute drive from the National Freeway 1. Furthermore, the project connects the KMRT Orange and Yellow Lines, and through a comprehensive and convenient underground connection system, it is linked to the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying) and Mitsui LaLaport, allowing art and culture to be integrated into daily life, making it the iconic gateway to eastern Kaohsiung.

AAC Chief Secretary Chien Mei-Hui also noted that the Kaohsiung City Government has always attached great importance to integrity and transparency and high administrative efficiency, and had previously set up three integrity platform projects before. This KMRT joint development project involves a huge investment size; therefore, the city government once again cooperated with the AAC and the District Prosecutor’s Office to establish an Integrity Platform to promote the cooperation between the administration and the judiciary through a sound mechanism, and at the same time uphold the belief of "multi-faceted collaboration, public oversight, openness and transparency" to eliminate improper interference and pressure and implement integrity government with concrete actions. It is believed that with joint efforts from all parties, this joint project will be completed as scheduled and with the same quality, for the benefit of the general public.

As the first "Twin-Metro" joint development project in Kaohsiung – the Orange Line O10 Station / Yellow Line Y18 Station Weiwuying Base has kicked off with much anticipation. Through the construction of the Kaohsiung MRT network, Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) and the symbiotic development of the two bases of Weiwuying Special Commercial District and Taiwan Railway Depot to form the "Twin-Midtown" development strategy. This is set to promote the development of regional art twin cores. In the future, this development base will be integrated with the surrounding arts and cultural resources, including the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying), Weiwu Mimi Village (衛武迷迷村), and the "K Hub," transforming Kaohsiung into a brand-new arts creation area and emerging arts and cultural industry cluster in the south of Taiwan to drive the development of regional arts twin cores. With the concept of "Take your time, stay one more night.@WeiWuYing," it is envisaged to transform this base into a vision of "WeiWuYing Art Hill."

Deputy mayor Lin said that this project benefits from the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying) and 70 hectares of open green space, which is a unique living environment in Kaohsiung City. The planned area of commercial facilities shall not be less than 30% of the floor area of the total building bulk ratio to introduce multiple functions such as art and cultural commercial space, performance venues for art groups, commercial office space, leisure and landscape residential space, etc. Future residents and visitors will enjoy the convenience of arriving at home or in shops as soon as they arrive at the MRT station, which helps nurture the area into the cradle of artistic talents. This case is also the first joint development project in which the value royalty revenue model is adopted. The value of the agencies’ rights and interests are divided into 50% of the reclaimed land and 50% of royalties, which are used to fund the MRT construction. Among them, the investors can also choose to lease back or buy the property back from government agencies with royalty rights for overall planning and utilization. The government hopes to work together with investors through more diversified and flexible options, to enhance the overall convenience of the area through the TOD development model, and to create a world-class Kaohsiung art gateway!

KMRT Director Wu Yi-Lung pointed out that the base area of the project is about 5,450 pings (approx. 18,000sqm) and the estimated development volume is about 84,000 pings (approx.277,687 sqm). The total transactional amount of the development is estimated to be NT$35 billion, which will bring more than 6,000 job opportunities to the area. It is hoped that through the revitalization of land use, the overall MRT capacity will be enhanced and the development of the area towards TOD will be promoted. This project was officially announced on March 30, 2022, and the bid preparation period is 5 months, ending on August 30, 2022. A fair, impartial, and open selection mechanism will be strictly followed to select an investor with a good reputation, financial capability, and development experience, with the goal of setting a new model for public-private cooperation in Kaohsiung. Investors are invited to seize the opportunity to share the infinite business opportunities of the Kaohsiung MRT and are welcome to participate in the investment project.

In addition, the Mass Rapid Transit Bureau of Kaohsiung City is committed to ensuring the safety and security of its staff and to diligently promote the completion of the city's rapid transit land development projects on time, with high quality, and without no issues, including the O13 station land development project, with the Integrity Platform for the project publicly announced on April 14, 2022. Cheng Ming-Chien, Director-General of the AAC visited during the unveiling of the platform and emphasized that Taiwan’s Corruption Perceptions Index(CPI) rose to 25 in 2021, ranking first in Asia for anti-bribery and the sixth in the world for the Government Defense Anti-corruption Index. This further demonstrates the government's determination and effectiveness in implementing integrity and clean government, creating a quality investment environment, and enhancing the vitality of industries and the economy. Premier Su of the Executive Yuan also remarked during the 25th meeting Central Integrity Committee that Taiwan's international integrity rating has achieved an all-time high, which proves that Taiwan's integrity strategy of openness and transparency, Inter-Agency Collaboration, and public-private Cooperation is moving in the right direction and instructed the Ministry of Justice and relevant ministries to establish an "Integrity Platform for Government Procurement" for major public projects or purchases of a certain amount and scale. The Mass Rapid Transit Bureau of Kaohsiung City will continue to uphold the spirit of openness and transparency in promoting MRT land development projects and will set up an integrity platform to help promptly!