Ministry of Finance to Offer 15 National Land Parcels for Afforestation Tender in July

(CNA, Taipei, May 21) After the first batch of national non-public land tendered for afforestation use failed to secure a bidder late last year, Taiwan's National Property Administration (NPA) under the Ministry of Finance will announce a new tender. Officials stated that after review and improvements, the new tender will be announced on July 1st this year, with bidding opening on September 1st. An estimated 15 parcels totaling about 36.51 hectares will be offered, and corporations with expertise in forestry are encouraged to bid. NPA Deputy Director-General Kuo Hsiao-jung explained at a routine press conference today that after the failure of the first tender, the NPA reviewed and refined the selection criteria for the afforestation parcels. She stated that to make the parcels more flexible and meet corporate afforestation needs, the selection criteria were adjusted by referencing existing registered voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction projects, which range in scale from 0.57 to 2.83 hectares. The previous tender required consolidating several plots within the same special municipality or county/city, with a total area exceeding 20 hectares. Kuo explained that the new system removes the total area restriction; any single plot of idle, non-forested national agricultural land larger than 0.5 hectares can now be listed for tender. According to the NPA's plan, the 15 parcels are spread across 11 municipalities and counties, including Yilan, Hualien, Taoyuan, Taichung, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Nantou, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung, and Taitung. Each parcel ranges from 0.54 to 8.33 hectares, totaling approximately 36.51 hectares, providing companies with more diverse options to facilitate afforestation planning and applications for voluntary reduction projects. Regarding bidding eligibility, the NPA stated that any domestic company within the territory of the Republic of China with "afforestation" listed in its business registration and no record of business suspension may participate. Joint bidding is not permitted. The NPA said the contract will be awarded through competitive bidding on the contract signing fee (with a base price of NT$30,000 per hectare). The annual rent will be calculated at 1% of the total declared land value. The lease term is 10 years, and the lessee may apply for renewal three times, for a maximum term of up to 40 years. The lessee may also, based on operational needs, apply to the tendering agency for a letter of intent to use the national non-public land for a voluntary reduction project, and then submit the project to the Ministry of Environment to obtain emission reduction credits. The lessee must allocate 10% of these credits to the NPA, balancing corporate investment incentives with the benefits of national property utilization. (Editor: Huang Kuo-lun) 1150521