Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Criticizes Ko Over City Hall Relocation Plan

Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai publicly criticized the proposal to "relocate City Hall to the 205th Arsenal" put forward by his Kuomintang (KMT) rival Ko Chih-en during a campaign event for Lai Jui-lung on the 8th of this month. Since last year, this proposal has become one of the core controversies between the two parties in the Kaohsiung mayoral race, concerning municipal administrative efficiency, land use, and local economic development. In his remarks, Chen noted that Ko's initiative not only lacks a feasibility analysis, but could also further undermine the city government's governance image due to redevelopment costs and the improper allocation of public resources.

The 205th Arsenal is located in Kaohsiung City's Zuoying District. Historically an important military manufacturing base in Taiwan, it was later repurposed for mixed industrial and residential use. Citing this background, Ko advocated relocating City Hall to the site,