The Taipei City Government, a construction contractor and its subcontractor were pointing fingers at one another yesterday over who was responsible for allowing shoddy materials to be used in the building of Taipei's Tachih Bridge.
The city government pledged to seek compensation from the lead contractor, Chun Yuan Construction Co (
Ta Tsun Metal Co, however, dismissed the accusation.
In a news conference held after the weekly closed-door city affairs meeting, William Chen (
Chen said that he did not think that the project, which is about 55 percent complete, would be slowed by the reinforcement work, which could take place while construction continues.
Chen said that the city plans to seek compensation from the contractor because the city had signed the construction contract with Chun Yuan and not Ta Tsun.
"Chun Yuan has the responsibility for making sure that the quality of steel rebar it uses meets the requirements of the construction contract," he said.
Chen added that the city knew about the problem of the rebar in March when the city conducted a random check on some of the rebar.
When the city conducted another inspection on March 12, it discovered that some of the rebar awaiting to be examined at the material examination room had been secretly changed.
"To avoid possible reoccurrence in the future, we plan to strengthen the security at the examination room, although Chun Yuan stopped placing orders with Ta Tsun in May," Chen said.
At the same time yesterday, Chun Yuan held a press conference to point the finger at Ta Tsun for substituting low-quality rebar.
"We found Ta Tsun secretly changed the steel bars on the evening of March 12 when the city was conducting the inspection," said Chang Yi-lun (
Chang also raised the possibility that the city may have colluded with Ta Tsun, speculating that there was no way Chun Yuan would use rebar that would fail to pass inspection.
"The relationship between the city and Ta Tsun seems suspicious," he said.
Ta Tsun issued a written statement yesterday afternoon, however, dismissing the allegation that it had secretly switched the rebar it shipped to the construction site.
"It's extremely difficult to do that without anyone knowing since [the bars are] very heavy," the statement said.
"If there's any problem found with the rebar, the city -- which conducts the inspection on the quality of the material -- should be held accountable not us," the statement said.
The quality of all of the rebar used in the construction has met the requirements of the construction contract, the statement said.
"There is no way we would do such an evil thing -- we've been in the business for over a decade," the statement said.
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