The Control Yuan is close to concluding its investigation into the Maokong Gondola and has found President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) not to be responsible for problems with the project, a Control Yuan member said on condition of anonymity yesterday.
The gondola, which has been suspended since Oct. 1 last year after mudslides eroded the ground beneath a support pillar, was one of Ma’s major projects when he was Taipei mayor.
Control Yuan members Tu Shan-liang (杜善良), Chen Yung-hsiang (陳永祥) and Ger Yeong-kuang (葛永光) are in charge of the probe.
The anonymous member said that Ma did not make mistakes in his decision to build the gondola.
Before the system was suspended, the gondola brought great benefits to the Muzha area, attracting more than 5 million visitors in a year, he said.
However, the anonymous official said that the Taipei City Government under Ma’s administration was found to be partly at fault for an incomplete evaluation of the geology of the tower sites, inadequate project design and insufficient testing.
He said the Control Yuan might censure the Taipei City Government led by Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) as it gave inconsistent accounts for the weakened Tower No. 16 (T16) and failed to explain clearly to the public how it was going to address the unsafe tower.
The Control Yuan is expected to hold a plenary meeting next month to discuss the report.
The Presidential Office yesterday said it respected Control Yuan decisions.
Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said that since January it has been saying that the decision to go ahead with the construction project was justified. The system had brought 5 million tourists to Maokong, Muzha and southern parts of the capital and created many business opportunities, he said.
It has also reiterated that there was nothing wrong with the safety of the T16 pillar, he said, adding that the construction process was legal and free of irregularities. The Control Yuan’s investigation report substantiated those claims, he said.
Regarding the Control Yuan’s criticism of the planning of the project, Wang said the Presidential Office fully respects the Control Yuan, which exercises its power independently, and did not interfere with the investigation process.
Meanwhile, Hau said the city government was happy to accept any corrective measures.
“However, we can assure people of the safety of the gondola, as engineers have examined the system and confirmed its safety,” Hau said.
He said the plan to reopen the gondola by the end of this year remained unchanged.
When asked for comment, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) said the result of the investigation was “illogical,” adding that the problems had much to do with poor design and construction completed during Ma’s mayoral terms.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said the former Ma administration should take responsibility for avoiding an environmental assessment and rushing construction.
“But the Hau administration did not have the courage to correct Ma’s wrong policy. It continued risking people’s lives and lied about the safety of the gondola,” Chuang said.
“All major municipal projects, from the Maokong Gondola to the Neihu MRT Line, have proved disappointments for Taipei residents and Mayor Hau needs to clean up the mess left by Ma,” he said.
DPP Taipei City Councilor Chien Yu-yen (簡余晏) condemned the Hau administration for insisting on reopening the gondola this year without a thorough environmental assessment and warned that it was still unsafe.
Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih and Flora Wang
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
The number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed that of pet dogs for the first time last year, reaching 1,742,033, a 32.8 percent increase from 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, citing a survey. By contrast, the number of pet dogs declined slightly by 1.2 percent over the same period to 1,462,528, the ministry said. Despite the shift, households with dogs still slightly outnumber those with cats by 1.2 percent. However, while the number of households with multiple dogs has remained relatively stable, households keeping more than two cats have increased, contributing to the overall rise in the feline population. The trend
RSS