Print

Mail

wiki links

DPP pans Taipei's street furniture

Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City councilors Chou Wei-you, left, Hsu Chia-chin, center, and Wu Su-yao hold up pictures of street furniture installed in Taipei City during March. The trio said the furniture was poorly installed and posed a threat to passengers. PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES

Taipei City's new street furniture, which was installed during March at a total of 417 bus stops, was poorly constructed using materials from China and posed a safety threat to passengers and residents, a group of Taipei City councilors said yesterday.

The street furniture on 13 of the city's major roads -- including bus stops, trash cans and bicycle racks -- was renewed under former mayor Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) administration in an effort to improve the city's landscape.

But instead of providing the city with a better image, several Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilors yesterday blamed the contractor and the city government for installing poor quality furniture, and said that residents had complained about broken chairs, loose screws and exposed pipes.

"The city government said they were giving the city a facelift with the new street furniture, but instead they used poor-quality Chinese materials that have injured some passengers," DPP Taipei City Councilor Chou Wei-you (周威佑) said at the offices of Taipei City Council.

Chou said he had received many complaints from residents who were injured by broken chairs, and urged the city government to take full responsibility for the damage caused.

According to DPP City Councilor Hsu Chia-chin (徐佳青), more than 76 percent of the street furniture failed to pass an examination by the city government conducted on April 30.

More than 30 percent of the street furniture at bus stops on Renai Road, Dunhua N Road, Dunhua S Road, Chongqing N Road and Chongqing S Road was poorly installed, Hsu said.

Bus stops in front of the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, on the intersections of Renai Road and Daan Road and Renai Road and Fuxing Road posed an even greater safety threat to passengers due to poorly installed furniture, Hsu added.

"The city government should demand that the contractor improve the quality of the furniture as soon as possible, and prevent the contractor from advertising in bus stops as of now," Hsu said.

DPP City Councilor Wu Su-yao (吳思瑤) echoed Hsu's criticism of the contractor, OmniAd Media Corp, for its failure to control the quality of the furniture.

In response, the Taipei City Department of Urban Development acknowledged that seven residents had asked for compensation from the city government for injuries, adding that the department would take responsibility for any injuries caused by the furniture.

The department also promised to stop the contractor displaying any advertisements at bus stops until the quality of the street furniture had improved, and vowed to cancel the contract if the contractor failed to fulfill the project requirements.

OmniAd Media Corp said the street furniture, which was made in China, was legally purchased from the manufacturers.
This story has been viewed 1954 times.