Today at the groundbreaking ceremony of Kaohsiung City's Maritime Cultural and Popular Music Center, Premier Jiang Yi-huah said he expects the center to become an international performance venue comparable to the prestigious Sydney Opera House in Australia.
"From planning to today's groundbreaking, preparatory work for the center took many years and encountered numerous bumps, but a critical step forward has at last been taken today," he remarked.
"Popular music has always been a key industry supported by the government," Jiang explained. "During Liu Chao-shiuan's premiership, the Executive Yuan committed to investing abundant resources in the development of six promising cultural industries—film, television, popular music, digital content, design and crafts—which are flourishing in Taiwan and have the most potential to thrive in East Asia and elsewhere in the world. The government will invest over NT$20 billion (US$659 million) in these industries, which are expected to generate over NT$1 trillion (US$32.9 billion) in production value and create over 200,000 jobs.
"When it comes to assistance for businesses, widespread participation by industry members is even more important than how much is invested in hard infrastructure," Jiang stated. "Once completed, Kaohsiung's Maritime Cultural and Popular Music Center will have not only magnificent architecture but also excellent performances and a strong following which the Ministry of Culture (MOC) and Kaohsiung City Government have cultivated together. With strong tangible and intangible foundations alike, the center will have the chance to become a world-class performance venue."
According to the MOC, the construction of the Maritime Cultural and Popular Music Center was approved by the Executive Yuan on October 1, 2009 with a budget of NT$5 billion (US$165 million), NT$450 million (US$14.8 million) of which was dedicated to enhancing performance content.
A landmark venture for Kaohsiung City as well as the entire southern Taiwan, the center is being financed by the Executive Yuan's program to fund major infrastructure projects over five years with a budget of NT$500 billion (US$15.5 billion).
The center's site is located at piers 13 to 15 of the Port of Kaohsiung in the city's Lingya District, bordered by the 30-meter-wide Haibian Road to the east and the harbor to the west.