At least another five to nine of the pillars supporting the Maokong Gondola are unstable or damaged, a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilor said yesterday, urging the Taipei City Government not to overlook the system’s safety issues.
Taipei City Councilor Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said that in addition to the problematic Tower No. 16, he had found other pillars that had been built on unstable ground.
One of the unstable pillars is located near the Zhinan Temple Station, Chuang said, but declined to say where the other problematic pillars were located.
He said he would make the details public once he has collected all the necessary information.
The pillars were built on unstable ground where the topsoil is fragile, and they could be damaged like Tower No. 16 if heavy rains or typhoons occurred, Chuang said.
“I was shocked when city government officials said there were no more damaged pillars. I hope they are not trying to cover up the truth,” he said at Taipei City Council.
The city government said on Tuesday that it was looking for alternative sites to relocate Tower No. 16, after typhoon-related flooding eroded the ground around the pillar.
Responding to Chuang’s allegations, Taipei City Government spokesman Yang Hsiao-tung (羊曉東) said the city government had no knowledge of any other damaged pillars.
However, Sherman Chen (陳雄文), commissioner of Taipei City’s Department of Economic Development, acknowledged on Tuesday that there was accumulated water around the slopes of certain pillars.
He said the city government would work to prevent any collapses in the area.
Meanwhile, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who was the mayor of Taipei when construction of the system started, should face an investigation into the construction of the cable car system.
She said as the gondola was located in a mountainous area, it should have first passed a strict environmental assessment and water and soil evaluation, but the Taipei City Government ignored such evaluations and completed the project hastily to make it a sightseeing place.
Tsai said the judiciary and the Control Yuan should conduct a swift investigation and punish officials responsible for the scandal.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RICH CHANG
The Ministry of Finance this afternoon announced the winning numbers for the March-April uniform invoice lottery. The winning number for the NT$10 million (US$318,060) special prize is 19531471, and the winning number for the NT$2 million grand prize is 85941329. Three numbers were drawn for the NT$200,000 first prize: 07225810, 20231230 and 83518781. Those with receipts matching the last seven digits of any of the first-prize numbers will win the NT$40,000 second prize, while those matching the last six digits will win the NT$10,000 third prize. Those whose receipts match the last five digits of the first-prize numbers can claim the NT$4,000 fourth prize,
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