On the first anniversary of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) inauguration, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors yesterday held him responsible for the inactive Maokong Gondola system, and accused his former Taipei City administration of engaging in corrupt practices.
The Maokong Gondola system, which has been suspended from service since Oct. 1 last year after mudslides eroded the ground beneath a support pillar, was one of Ma’s major projects when he was mayor of Taipei.
In January, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) announced that the problematic support pillar, also known as Tower No.16, would be relocated. He also reported 11 city government officials and two contracting companies to the Control Yuan and the Taipei Prosecutors’ Office for investigation into possible dereliction of duty.
DPP Taipei City councilors Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) and Chou Wei-you (周威佑) yesterday accused Ma and his municipal team of colluding with contractors to change the route of the gondola line, and fabricate geological reports on all 25 towers to speed up the construction so the project could be completed and become a municipal achievement for Ma.
“The whole structure of the gondola system is problematic. All of the 25 towers were built on shaky ground, but the former Ma administration allowed contractors to cut corners,” Hsu said during a press conference at the Taipei City Council.
Chou said that Tower No. 15 and almost all the other towers were built on unstable ground where the topsoil was fragile, and they could be damaged like Tower No. 16 in the event of heavy rains or a typhoon.
Hsu said Control Yuan President Wang Chien-shien failed to launch an investigation into the possible corruption and administrative flaws of the involved officials and contractors.
In its latest issue yesterday, the Chinese-language weekly Next Magazine made the same accusations against Ma and members of his municipal administration who handled the construction, including former director of the Public Works Office Lee Shu-chuan (李四川).
In response, Hau yesterday said no city government officials were involved in corruption or embezzlement in the construction of the project, and last night the city government said they would file a lawsuit against the magazine for its false report.
Hau said the city government evaluated the 25 towers every week to ensure the safety and stability of each tower. The city government will seek to resume the service next year.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
RSS