MOI renovation plans to benefit 600 old buildings

BUDGET:
Each apartment would have a NT$9.6 million funding ceiling, and elderly and disadvantaged residents would receive NT$300,000 in interior renovation funds

• By Chung Li-hua and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Residents of 600 aging residential buildings are to benefit from the Executive Yuan’s building renovation and life extension project, which is expected to produce NT$10 billion (US$317.9 million) in added value for the construction sector, a government official said yesterday.

The project is to have a NT$5 billion budget and target four to six-story apartment buildings aged 30 years or older, as well as terraced townhouses and independent residential buildings that are six stories or fewer, the Ministry of the Interior’s (MOI) proposal said.

The funds would be used to subsidize pipe and power line renovations, building exterior renovations, roof leakproofing and installation of elevators or barrier-free facilities, the proposal said.

Photo: Taipei Times

The official, who declined to be named, said the Executive Yuan would begin reviewing the proposal on Tuesday and is expected to pass it the same day, adding that applications would be likely be open to the public starting next month.

Each apartment would have a funding ceiling of NT$9.6 million, and interior renovations would be capped at NT$200,000.

Elderly residents, defined as those aged 65 or older, and disadvantaged residents would receive a maximum of NT$300,000 in interior renovation funds.

The funding would come from a special budget under the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及國土安全韌性特別條例) and would not be affected by the government’s general budget, the official said.

The meeting would also discuss amendments to the Expediting Reconstruction of Urban Unsafe and Old Buildings Act (都市危險及老舊建築物加速重建條例), they added.

The amendments state that “unsafe and old” buildings eligible for renovation subsidies must have residents in at least half of the building’s residential units.

For renovations in buildings smaller than 500m2, the maximum subsidy should be reduced to 1.2 times the building’s base floor area ratio, the official said, adding that for independent buildings and terraced townhouses, it would be 1.1 times the base floor area ratio.

Renovations of buildings bigger than 500m2 that would, post-renovation, have social housing and welfare facilities, would get a 15 percent bonus based on their maximum base floor area ratio, they said.