Fed up with a more than three-month stoppage in construction, three of the contractors working on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (核四) are seeking to annul their contracts with the Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電). Ta Tung Construction (大棟), Yung Ching Co (永慶) and Chang Yi Construction (昶誼), whose contracts are worth a total of NT$1.3 billion, officially notified Taipower on Feb. 3 of their intentions to pull out of the project, according to Taipower.
All of the companies cited unwillingness to weather additional losses due to further political wrangling -- which although appears tantalizingly close to resolution, could still drag on for months -- but none had yet requested compensation, Taipower said. But according to Huang Shou-ching (
"By signalling their intention to walk away from the project now, it will strengthen their position if work is eventually resumed and when it comes time for compensation talks for losses incurred," Huang said.
Integral to all contracts to build the nuclear plant is a condition that allows contractors to cancel their agreements and seek compensation if construction is delayed more than three months.
The move by the three companies is the first notice of annulment by any of the 12 major contractors since that three-month deadline expired in late January. According to Huang, it could take at least three months to find replacement contractors and get work restarted on the various projects, of which none are more than 50 percent complete.
Other executives have said it could take between six months to one year to replace contractors due to the political uncertainties that will remain with the project. Ta Tung is building the receiving dock for the reactors and water intake pipelines, Yung Ching is building the plant controller's training center and Chang Yi is charged with electrical switching and distribution equipment.
Ta Tung's project, which alone is worth NT$1.2 billion, is the most important of the three according to Huang, who added the company has struggled with fierce opposition from local residents to construction work in the bay and along the coast.
Indeed, Ta Tung executives told ERA News reporters yesterday that unless Taipower paid out a "reasonable amount of compensation for losses due to stalled construction and helped resolve the conflict with belligerent Kungliao residents, they wouldn't complete their contracts even if work is restarted." Taipower will hold off on responding to the companies for one to two days in the hope that the government will order a return to work on the plant and the contractors will withdraw their notifications of annulment.
Other contractors and Taipower executives alike have previously fretted over a potential meltdown of construction if the exit of one or more of the main contractors sparked large-scale departures from the project. If Ta Tung holds to its plans, for example, delivery of the two 1,350-megawatt reactors being built by GE could be delayed for the time it takes Taipower to find a contractor to complete construction of a special receiving dock.
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