Taipei City Geotechnical Engineering Office

The site at the bottom of Jinan Mountain near the south exit of Ziqiang Tunnel in Dazhi was formerly an area of dangerously structured housing. Between 2004 and 2005, the Geotechnical Engineering Office of the Public Works Department, Taipei City Government, relocated the residents, tore down the housing and carried out overall hillside planning and governance. After the Geotechnical Engineering Office’s progressive remediation and rehabilitation over the years, about 5.4 hectares of land, from the hillside behind Shih Chien University in the east to Lane 755 of Bei-an Road in the west, has been successfully readjusted. It is now a tree-lined path and a recreational space for the residents.

Director of the Geotechnical Engineering Office, Lin Yu-i, said that this place was still a dangerously structured hillside housing area in 2000. Illegal houses piled up on the hillside very close to the steep slope without keeping a safe distance, and there was no drainage system; slope disasters often occurred during typhoons or heavy rain.

The Geotechnical Engineering Office said that, in order to move the residents away from the dangerous area, Taipei City Government successively carried out “resettlement before demolition” and “demolition by period and area” in 2001, 2003 and 2005. A total of 277 households and 908 residents were resettled from the dangerous Jinan Mountain housing area, before the houses were demolished and hillside remediation and rehabilitation were carried out. After years of hillside remediation and ecological rehabilitation, not only are the residents now safe from danger, but more than 5 hectares of greenery has also been added, bringing considerable benefits to the area.

Chief of the Slope Land Building Section of the Geotechnical Engineering Office, Lin Shi-yuan, said that after the demolition of Jinan Mountain’s housing area, besides building soil and water conservation facilities to maintain hillside safety, a natural recreational space and trail system has also been created. The overall rehabilitation of the environment is the most important and crucial factor. The rehabilitation process was carried out based on the aim of “barren land reclamation and vegetation rehabilitation.” At present, native plants have successively reappeared, attracting the habitation of birds and insects, and bringing vitality to the place.