There is a possibility that the Taipei Dome (台北大巨蛋) could be dismantled, Taipei Deputy Mayor Charles Lin (林欽榮) said yesterday, adding that the city would not rule out any options as it investigates the safety of the complex.
“Dismantling the Dome is one possible option, but I do not think this is the appropriate time to go into details,” Lin said.
“We will use standard international methods to test whether the present structure meets international safety standards,” Lin said, adding that the Dome’s future was a scientific question, not a political one.
The city has to guarantee that residents are provided with international-level safety standards at all times, he said.
Lin said the municipality would examine the safety of the Dome itself and the surrounding sport and culture district after the project is completed, focusing on evacuation plans, fire safety and traffic dispersion.
For this purpose, the city government plans to invite international and domestic experts to examine existing plans with city officials, holding detailed discussions with the site’s architects and requiring that points of contention be simulated through advanced computer models, he said.
If questions over the site’s safety remain, the city will recommend changes and alterations to the site’s plans, without ruling out requiring the structure be dismantled, he said.
Lin’s comment follow similar remarks by Taipei Deputy Mayor Teng Chia-chi (鄧家基) earlier this week.
The city’s investigation into site safety follows a breakdown in the renegotiation of the contract with the Dome’s contractor, Farglory Land Development Co (遠雄建設), last month.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) earlier this week said that he had ordered the investigation after discovering that prior examinations were headed by former Construction and Planning Agency director-general Yeh Shih-wen (葉世文).
Yeh has been charged with accepting bribes from Farglory Land Development Co chairman Chao Teng-hsiun (趙藤雄) to approve several separate development projects.
About a month will be needed before a conclusion can be reached, he said yesterday.
He has declined to reply directly to questions as to whether the structure could be removed, saying that it is a technical question hinging on the site’s safety.
Farglory public relations department deputy manager Jacky Yang (楊舜欽) said NT$30 billion (US$957 million) has been spent on the Dome’s construction so far.
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