Construction of the trouble-plagued Beitou cable car system might resume by the end of this year after a hiatus of almost four years, the Ministry of the Interior’s Construction and Planning Agency said on Thursday.
If the Taipei City Government decides to cooperate with the winning bidder of the contract, the cable car construction project could restart by year-end, as long as the National Parks Planning Committee under the ministry gives its approval, the agency said.
Late last year, the agency demanded that the city government, which is in charge of the project, report back within three months on whether it will continue collaborating with the previous winning bidder to carry out the build-operate-transfer project.
The deadline will expire late this month.
The construction license for the project was revoked in 2005 after then-vice minister of the interior Yen Wan-ching (顏萬進) and Tsai Bai-lu (蔡佰祿), then-director of Yangmingshan National Park, were charged with taking kickbacks from a developer who sought to get a construction license for the project.
Yen was sentenced to 15 years in prison after being found guilty on corruption charges in four separate cases, including his acceptance of bribes from the developer.
Tsai was sentenced to 30 months for his involvement in the bribery scandal.
In other news, officials from Canadian transport manufacturer Bombardier, builder of Taipei’s Wenhu MRT line, wrapped up a two-day visit to Taiwan on Thursday in which they gave demonstrations aimed at promoting the company’s lower-emission and fuel-efficient airliners.
Bombardier Aerospace arranged two demonstration flights of its Q400 NextGen turboprop airliner at Taipei Songshan Airport for representatives from domestic air carriers, many of which expressed interest, said a representative of Bombardier’s commercial agent.
“The demo tour received positive responses from the representatives but they will conduct reviews before making decisions,” Hung said.
The visit to Taiwan, part of an Asia-Pacific tour, presented an opportunity to showcase one of the world’s most technologically advanced turboprops optimized for the short-haul regional market, said a company staffer.
Taiwanese carriers are looking to replace older airliners in their fleets and, after the Taiwan High Speed Rail began operating in 2007, have changed their operating strategies to focus on flights serving outlying islands such as Kinmen, Matsu and Penghu instead of other domestic flights, Hung said.
They are expected to use their jet planes for direct flights between Taiwan and China and to use turboprop airliners with a capacity of between 56 and 80 passengers for flights to the islands, he said.
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