Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Wins Taipei Station Mall Rights; Breeze Considers Lawsuit

Taipei, April 28 (CNA) – The bidding results for the management rights of the Taipei Station mall have been released. Taiwan Railway announced today that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi is the top-ranked applicant, followed by Breeze Plaza Real Estate Co. however, Breeze has questioned the evaluation process and mechanism, filing an objection yesterday and requesting Taiwan Railway provide an explanation within three days and suspend the announcement. Breeze stated today that it has not yet received a response and will evaluate filing an administrative lawsuit.

Breeze issued a statement today claiming multiple procedural doubts during the evaluation. These include reports that the results were leaked to the market before the official announcement, potentially impacting information consistency and procedural fairness. They also questioned whether the qualifications and recusal procedures of the evaluation committee members were strictly enforced according to regulations.

Furthermore, Breeze noted that for such a major public infrastructure project at a transportation hub, the only committee member with professional engineering expertise failed to attend the evaluation meeting. They argued that the attendance record and its impact on the final scoring should be clearly explained to the public.

Breeze pointed out that Taipei Station is a crucial national transportation hub, and its operations involve public interest, travel quality, and national image. Such evaluation processes should possess high transparency and be subject to scrutiny. The fact that the announcement was completed while the objection process was still unresolved raises concerns about the effectiveness of the remedial mechanism.

Breeze stated that while it respects the evaluation system, it has initiated legal proceedings regarding specific doubts about procedural legitimacy. They urged the relevant authorities to properly address concerns regarding the evaluation process and scoring to ensure Breeze's legal rights, public interest, and institutional credibility.