The Control Yuan yesterday censured the Taipei City Government over its construction of the problem-ridden Wenshan-Neihu MRT line, demanding that officials be held accountable.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who was mayor of Taipei City when the line was built, was cleared of any administrative wrongdoing in the design and construction of the project.
The Control Yuan held a meeting in February to deliberate a motion to censure the city government, but rejected the motion due to lack of evidence.
Control Yuan member Ger Yeong-kuang (葛永光), who is in charge of the case, said that they did not make any major revisions to the investigation report, apart from including more material.
Chao Jung-yao (趙榮耀), another Control Yuan member, said the city government had failed to evaluate the ability of Bombardier, the firm contracted to build the MRT line, to undertake the project.
LOWER STANDARDS
“First of all, the city government lowered the standards so that Bombardier was able to qualify as a bidder,” Chao said. “However, the incidents that occurred on the line were mainly caused by Bombardier's network system.”
The Control Yuan members also blamed the city government for rushing to open the line after only 13 weeks of trials.
“It was formally opened when the system was not stable, which meant that the city government did not conduct a thorough trial operation,” Ger said.
Instead of summoning Ma for questioning, the Control Yuan members “gathered for tea” with him in late January to gain an understanding of the policy-making process for the design and construction of the project.
In response to the censure, Taipei City Government spokesperson Chao Hsin-ping (趙心屏) said the city government respected the Control Yuan’s decision, adding that it would seek accountability and compile a list of people who should be punished after it receives the Control Yuan’s formal letter.
IMPROVEMENTS
Chao said the city government had spared no effort in ensuring the quality of the line, and the stability of the line had greatly improved after it suspended the service on weekends in August last year for inspections.
“We will handle the issue according to the regulations, and we will look into the responsibilities of those who should be blamed whether they are government officials or retired,” she said at Taipei City Hall.
She declined to say whether Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) should take the blame for the problematic decision-making process.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai