Taipei city councilors yesterday expressed concern over the progress of the city’s preparations for next year’s Summer Universiade, as they called on the Taipei Department of Sports to step up efforts to outsource the work.
At a meeting of the Taipei City Council’s Education Committee, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Councilor Chin Huei-chu (秦慧珠) said that with only 15 months remaining before the Universiade, infrastructure for the event is still half-finished, and more than 100 projects whose costs total NT$11 billion (US$338.1 million) have not been contracted out.
She questioned whether Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) administration was struggling to bring itself up to speed on organizing the event.
She asked the department to brief the committee on the progress of the solicitation for bids to carry out the “four major projects” — broadcasting, opening and closing ceremonies, food supplies and communication services — for the event, while Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Wang Wei-chung (王威中) asked the department to report on renovations, which are estimated to cost more than NT$50 million and still need to be reviewed by the Public Construction Commission.
New Party Taipei City Councilor Chen Yan-po (陳彥伯) said the department had issued calls for bids for only 10 of the 52 sites requiring renovation so far, adding that some of the construction work, including building a basketball court at the yet-to-be-opened Heping Junior High School, has fallen behind schedule.
Department Commissioner Hung Chia-wen (洪嘉文) said contractors had been decided for two of the four major projects.
The Event Planning Group won the bid to prepare food for athletes participating in the Universiade, which costs NT$30 million, while Uniplan, a consultancy firm, won the right to organize the opening and closing ceremonies, which costs NT$360 million, Hung said.
He said the broadcasting right, which is to be sold via a limited auction, is expected to go to Chinese Television System at a price of NT$330 million later this month.
Division chief Wu Wei-ming (吳偉銘) said the department hopes to contract out renovation projects that cost less than NT$50 million by the end of this year and those costing more by April next year.
He said that so far, renovation of the Taipei Gymnasium, which is to be used for badminton matches, has been outsourced.
DPP Taipei City Councilor Wang Min-sheng (王閔生) said that the Kaohsiung City Government was already making all-out efforts to solicit volunteers for the World Games, which it hosted in 2009, 18 months prior to the event, and it seemed that Taipei was not doing enough to boost residents’ engagement in the Universiade.
He said the department needs to instill a sense of pride and develop camaraderie among Taipei residents if it wants the event to be successful.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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