The biggest problem the NMMST faced over the last decade was obtaining land for its construction. In the early 90s, NMMST was able to obtained 30 hectares of public land. However, only a mere 2 hectares were flat land, which is not sufficient for the construction of the main exhibition hall. Although the Keelung City Hall had proposed to build the NMMST on landfills when it was bidding for the rights to have the museum located in Keelung, but the idea was later aborted due to the extreme high cost that landfill projects required. In 1996, the land problem was temporary solved through renting the land owned by the Taiwan Power Company. The preparatory office was later established on December 20, 1997, eight years after the Executive Yuan’s approval of the museum project in September 1989. Although the rented land is over 10 hectares in area, but available land for construction is only about 4 hectares (since some existing buildings on the land are historical buildings). In all, the NMMST has over 46 hectares of land, but flat land is scattered and scarce, which is far from meeting the original requirement of “a minimum of 20 hectares of continuous flat land with no existing structure, and 10 hectares of spare land with no existing structures.”

 

The NMMST is situated in Badouzi of Keelung City with a total area of approximately 46 hectares (including rental land and allotted land). This includes land for education facilities and public parks.

After numerous meetings to discuss problems on leasing land from the Taiwan Power Company, on May 30, 2003, a meeting to discuss countermeasures for problems that arose from land rental was convened under the direction of Minister without portfolio LIN Sheng-fong and Political Vice Minister FAN Sun-lu. Administrative Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Mayor of Keelung, and Secretary General of the Keelung City Council were also present at the meeting. It was resolved at the meeting that exchange of lands shall be conducted (exchanging government-owned land that the Xiehe Power Plant was leasing from for the leasing of the Pei-Pu Power Plant). On August 12, 2003, a working committee for the “land for land” project was formulated. At the fifth and final coordination meeting on December 30, 2003, resolutions on exchange details were reached. The project plan was submitted to the Ministry of Education and the Executive Yuan. In April 2004, the Executive Yuan approved the exchange project. Application for the allotment of the Pei-Pu Power Plant was submitted on September 3, 2004, and was approved on November 9 of the same year. Issues on land use for the NMMST were finally resolved.

Although land issues were resolved in 2004, but the matter of the fact is that most of the flat lands within the 46 hectares that the NMMST owns are scattered and scarce. Since the main exhibition hall can only be built on the site of the Pei-Pu Power Plant, in addition to issues with existing historical buildings and the need for a parking lot to accommodate 1000 vehicles, it was apparent that the main exhibition area would not be able to complete under optimized conditions. The challenge thus fell upon creating a new layout for the NMMST.

In September 2002, with the overall regional development in mind, the preparation office proposed a recreational/tourism region, referred to as the marine education park, to include the Bisha Fishing Port, Badouzi and the NMMST. The preparatory office also proposed to utilize the Badouzi Fishing Port, which is owned by the Fisheries Administration. The two proposals reached a consensus on April 5, 2003, and a coordination meeting was held on May 20 to discuss related matters.

 

In September 2002, with the overall regional development in mind, the preparation office proposed a recreational/tourism region, referred to as the marine education park, to include the Bisha Fishing Port, Badouzi and the NMMST. The preparatory office also proposed to utilize the Badouzi Fishing Port, which is owned by the Fisheries Administration. The two proposals reached a consensus on April 5, 2003, and a coordination meeting was held on May 20 to discuss related matters.

 

Pic. Three hectares of land to the east of Badouzi Fishing Port, owned by the Fisheries Administration (outlined in red).