The Taipei City Government has dragged its feet in addressing school buildings that are structurally unsound, Taipei city councilors Chien Shu-pei (簡舒培) and Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday.
“The city’s Department of Education has done nothing about many school buildings that meet demolition criteria,” Wu said.
She said that Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School’s Ziqiang building is an example of the department’s alleged massaging of dangerous building figures.
Wu said the department had not included the building on its public list of dangerous buildings marked for demolition, even though an internal investigation had found it to be a “sea-sand building.”
“Sea-sand buildings” are structures whose concrete contains cheap, ocean-sourced sand.
Salt in the sand leads to the rapid corrosion of steel used in construction, increasing the risk of building collapse during earthquakes.
“Because [the Ziqiang buildings’ structural weakness] can not be seen with the naked eye, the department has pretended it does not exist,” Wu said, adding that based on the department’s internal investigation, there are at least six other school buildings across the city that have not been placed on the list of “dangerous buildings.”
She criticized previous city administrations for dragging their feet in addressing the issue, adding that a comprehensive review of school building safety had taken eight years to complete.
Department engineering head Hsu Chiao-hua (許巧華) said the buildings met safety standards that were in place when they were constructed, but needed to be strengthened to meet heightened standards adopted in 1997.
Hsu said they were not “sea-sand” buildings.
She said that work on buildings to help them meet the new standards has dragged out because investigation and strengthening can take place only during summer breaks, and also because of the sheer number of buildings involved.
Department figures show that at least 785 of the city’s 1357 buildings failed to meet the new standards, with 123 still requiring strengthening measures.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
RSS