Taipei Cracks Down on Illegal Construction at Teahouses 萬華茶室172家 12家業者違建須自行拆除

The Taipei City Government is considering allowing Wanhua District teahouses to reopen by September at the earliest. Statistics show that there are 12 teahouses that are in violation of regulations for various reasons. They will have to resolve these issues by Aug. 20 in order to reopen.

This is an alley located off of Xiyuan Road in Taipei's Wanhua District. An announcement has been posted on the outer wall of a teahouse and gives a deadline for the removal of an illegal rooftop structure. A nearby illegally constructed teahouse has also been ordered to be demolished by Aug. 20. Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je is considering allowing Wanhua's teahouses to resume operations by September at the earliest in light of the improving epidemic situation. The precondition for reopening is that the teahouse must not have any illegal construction. According to the city's Construction Management Office, there are 172 teahouses in Wanhua District, and 12 still have illegal construction that must be demolished.

Voice of Hung Te-hao, Dep. Chief Engineer, Construction Mgmt. Office, Taipei City："We currently have 14 cases. Five involve illegal occupation of fire lanes, while another five have operating kitchens. Two have illegal rooftop structures, and two have illegal construction on vacant land. The Construction Management Office notified these businesses in writing this week and asked them to voluntarily demolish and improve by Aug. 16 to 20."

The city government said that any teahouse that fails to tear down illegal construction will not be allowed to apply to resume operations. There have been cases of illegal foreign workers working at Wanhua teahouses, creating public security problems. Ko previously decreed that illegal foreign workers would be "granted a special pardon" to get tested and vaccinated. There are questions as to whether this means these workers will be able to resume working at teahouses. The city government said the decree to allow illegal foreign workers to get vaccinated was issued when the epidemic situation was grave, and this does not mean they can work at teahouses.

Wanhua District Resident："You can't find them or catch them. (So you think there might be dark figures.) Definitely."

Tsai Ping-kun, Deputy Taipei City Mayor："The point of the decree was to tell them that we wouldn't apprehend them if they came forward to get vaccinated or tested. This also means that those foreign workers without working permits cannot work in our teahouses."

Residents say the government won't be able to round up all these illegal workers if it's not resolute. The city government said employers using illegal foreign workers will be fined up to NT$750,000. Deputy Taipei City Mayor Tsai Ping-kun said the city government will continue to inform and offer guidance to Wanhua teahouses to normalize their operations. Anyone who uses illegal workers will be prosecuted.

位在萬華的西園路巷弄內，茶室外牆被貼上限期拆除公告，因為二樓頂加違建，附近另一家茶室也因佔地違建，被要求20號前拆除，台北市長柯文哲考量疫情降溫，打算讓萬華茶室最快9月復業，但想要營業的店家，前提是店面不能有違建，根據建管處統計，萬華茶室共172家，目前還有12家業者的違建必須自行拆除。

台北市政府建管處副總工程司 洪德豪表示：「一共有14案，其中5案是占用防火巷，5案是營業廚房，2案是屋頂違建，有2案是空地違建。那建管處已經在本週，書面通知業者，分別責請在8月16號至20號期間，自行拆除改善。」

北市府強調，店家若沒拆除違建，不得申請恢復營業，此外，非法外籍移工藏身在萬華茶室，衍生治安問題，外界也關注這群非法外籍移工是否還有當初市長柯文哲喊出的篩檢和施打疫苗「特赦令」，藉此重回茶室工作？對此，北市府澄清，特赦令是疫情嚴峻期間，開放非法外籍移工接種疫苗，而非允許在茶室工作。

萬華民眾表示：「不會下來，你找得到嗎？抓不到！（所以會覺得這個黑數還會存在？) 一定會的！」

台北市副市長 蔡炳坤表示：「特赦令意思是說，你來接種疫苗，你來篩檢，我們不會來把你抓起來。所有這些工作的部分，無證的移工，當然是不可以在我們茶室業裡面去工作。」

民眾直言，政府若沒拿出魄力，這些非法外籍移工抓也抓不完，北市府表示，雇主聘僱非法外籍移工，最重可罰75萬元，蔡炳坤強調，持續宣導輔導，讓萬華茶室營業正常化，若查獲非法外籍移工，會予以法辦。