After returning to work in my home country, I gradually discovered the government’s incredibly lax attitude toward supervising construction sites, which is both unbelievable and disappointing.
The government should take responsibility for our backward and chaotic urban streetscapes and actively ensure that developers comply with relevant building codes and standards.
🚨 Post-Approval Negligence and “Third World” Streetscapes
Currently, our government merely reviews building plans and then allows developers to start constructing illegal additions at will, with absolutely no subsequent monitoring mechanisms to curb this chaos.
This approach gives developers room for petty tricks and shortcuts—rampant unauthorized expansions, random illegal additions, and haphazard installation of illicit facilities—resulting in our city streets forever looking like they belong in a backward third-world country.
🗣️ Are Insufficient Inspections an Excuse or a Compromise?
Government construction authorities always claim there are too many building projects to conduct inspections.
But what kind of reason is that?
Can’t the government take more measures to ensure developers comply with regulations and standards? Use stricter methods to deter violations?
The excuses officials come up with are merely that—excuses. They are a sign of the government’s inability and unwillingness to respond. They may even reflect years of government-business collusion and various compromises.
🚧 Threats to Public Rights and Safety
Citizens usually don’t realize developers are building illegally until they discover severe damage to neighboring properties. After filing complaints, they are met with the dismissive response that “it will be demolished someday in the future.” This absurd normalization of wrongdoing is deeply concerning and could lead to excessive harm to people’s rights when natural disasters like earthquakes strike.
🔨 Demand: Strict Punishment and License Revocation
The government should invest more effort in planning to give Taiwan Island a chance to shed its reputation for backwardness, making urban block designs more progressive and aligned with urban aesthetics.
The government should take on supervisory responsibility, strengthen oversight of construction sites, and ensure developers fully comply with building plans. Otherwise, they should face severe penalties including demolition, punitive damages, and license revocation—only then can the loophole-seeking mentality of developers be effectively changed, and the situation improved for a better nation.