The Legislative Yuan passed the amendment to Article 5-1 of the Statute for Expediting Reconstruction of Urban Unsafe and Old Buildings (“the Statute”) to strengthen public-private cooperation and to promote the reconstruction of the old buildings. The amendment provides that unless one of the three exceptions is met, the state-owned properties shall participate in the reconstruction. In addition, the regulations on managing state-owned properties as provided in the Land Act would be excluded in such cases. This will greatly improve the efficiency of state-owned properties’ participation in the reconstruction and ensure the safety of people’s residences.

The Ministry of the Interior stated that prior to this amendment since the consent of all owners of the properties within the reconstruction plan is required and the Statute did not have similar regulations such as “the state-owned properties shall participate in the reconstruction” as provided in Article 46 of the Urban Renewal Act, if there is any state-owned property within the reconstruction plan then the related procedure provided in the Land Act, the National Property Act, the Budget Act, and the municipal regulations regarding state-owned properties shall be followed which would lengthen the timeline of the reconstruction.

The amendment includes:

1. The state-owned properties, unless (i) already have a rational utilization plan; (ii) the ratio of the state-owned land reaches 50% or more of the scope of the reconstruction plan; or (iii) the ratio of the state-owned land reaches 30% or more of the scope of the reconstruction plan and the scope of the reconstruction plan complies with the criteria of delineation of the renewal unit, shall participate in the reconstruction. The regulations on managing state-owned properties would be excluded. 
2. In order to retain the flexibility of state-owned properties to participate in reconstruction, the amendment clearly stipulates that joint construction, bidding, sale, or other methods as provided in other laws or regulations can be carried out. If the management authority of state-owned properties participates in the reconstruction by means of joint construction since it involves the calculation of the value of the land and buildings before and after the reconstruction, the management authority shall entrust a real estate appraiser to conduct an appraisal of the value of the state-owned properties, and follow the procedures of the appraisal and review mechanism for the price of the state-owned properties, and agree with the builder on the proportion of reconstruction and distribution, so as to protect the rights and interests derive from the state-owned properties.  
3. To implement the amendment, the Ministry of the Interior, the competent authority, will subsequently invite the Ministry of Finance, the municipal competent authorities to formulate the applicable criteria, procedures, and other matters to be complied, so as to accelerate the reconstruction cases involving mixed types of public and private properties.