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Taipei mayor gives word to improve roads

Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) vowed yesterday to improve the quality of the city’s roads and declared that the city would set higher standards, making sure there were no more bumpy or pot-holed roads in Taipei.

Taipei City’s Department of Public Works said the government would finish the road maintenance work by the end of this year — including paving with new tar and decreasing by 30 percent the number of manholes on Zhonghua Road Sec 2, Nankang Road Sec 2 and Linsen S Road, to be used as “demonstration roads.”

“The road quality in Taipei City is far worse than in some underdeveloped countries. The uneven roads bring shame on the city and it’s unacceptable,” Hau said yesterday during a municipal meeting at Taipei City Hall.

Hau said he was dissatisfied over the department’s road maintenance works and said the quality of the roads was so poor that even ambassadors complained about it to him.

He pledged to set higher standards for road quality, and form a “road crew” to review road maintenance work every month.

The department said last month it began offering training courses for road maintenance workers and contractors on road paving, pipeline digging and other skills.

The department also adopted higher standards on the purchase of tar — aiming to prevent the use of recycled tar.

The city government also put a number of restraints on road digging projects and now requires contractors to apply for permits before proceeding with road work.

Hau said the city government would double the fines for those who failed to get permits from the department.

In response to a city councilor’s accusation that contractors rushed road maintenance work on Donghu Road to avoid the department’s examination, Hau said he would personally check the maintenance work on the road before giving approval.


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