Ruentex Development Co. was granted the right to carry out the “Urban Renewal Implementation Projects of 17 land sites in Parcel No. 72, 5th Subsection, Nanhai Section, Zhongzheng District” project by the Taipei City Government (TCG). The Signing Ceremony was smooth and successfully completed on June 25, 2012.
Since the Ruentex Development Co. actively participated and won the selection of the "Urban Renewal Implementation Projects of 17 land sites in Parcel No. 72, 5th Subsection, Nanhai Section, Zhongzheng District" project, TCG's Mayor Hau, President Yin of Rentex, along with chairman of board Liu of Ruentex Development Co., attended the signing ceremony and showed high hopes for the project. The total area of this project is 5,824㎡, and the adjacent areas are full of educational institutions, including Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School on its west side, National 228 Memorial Museum, National Museum of History, Taipei Botanical Garden on its north side.
According to the Department of Finance (DOF), Ruentex Development Co., Ltd. is requested to share the 22.08% rather than 31.5% ratio with the DOF in the official requirement; the royalty value is estimated around NT 9 billion, and value of 7 billion in real estate and parking lots could be allocated back to the http://www-ws.gov.taipei/001/Upload/public/private owners after renewal. There will be about 225 units (NT 2.5 billion) of the international school buildings allocated to Ministry of Education. There will be more returned to the TCG-owned rental housing which is about 4 billion (196 units). Moreover, the technique and skill level of the constructive company, MECANOO of the Ruentex Development Co. is as good as the international construction level, which is a new milestone that broke the cheap, simple and crude stereotype of low quality rental housing. The new design is also considered for future maintenance, and housekeeping. The Ruentex Co. has to propose the Urban Renewal Business/Facilities Plan plus the Change of the Royalty Plan to the authorities in 240 days from now. The project is set to be completed in 2017.
There are several positive features and improvements by choosing the private institution, Ruentex Development Co. to make the urban renewal planning: Firstly, transparent bidding processes bring about fairness and reasonable results. Secondly, to get the independent appraisers to make fair estimations of the real estate will avoid conflicts among owners, developers and city government. Thirdly, the developer was requested to provide smaller and more house units for rental purposes rather than big housing.
These features will activate the aging TCG-owned housing without spending the money of the city government, and increase the return of building units, which facilitates the public-owned rental housing policy of TCG. This makes the case driving force to lead other Urban Renewal plans, such as those in the Beitou District. Thus, DOF encourages all interested institutions to participate to the tender document for renewal projects in the future.