The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) was severely criticized at a meeting of the Transportation Committee at the legislatute in Taipei yesterday, as more problems emerged with the facilities at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
The operation of the nation’s largest international airport was under scrutiny after flooding caused by thunderstorms on June 2 disrupted airport operations and led to a financial loss of more than NT$50 million (US$1.54 million).
Taiwan International Airport Corp chairman Tseng Dar-jen (曾大仁) said after he took office on Wednesday last week that no flooding or power failures would occur inside the airport terminals on his watch.
However, both Terminal One and Terminal Two had no water supply between 12:30am and 7:30am yesterday because a water pipeline was broken during construction on the taxiway.
The lack of water supply caused chaos in restrooms inside the terminals because people could not flush the toilets and the restaurants could not serve coffee or tea because they had no water.
The incident was followed by the air-conditioning system inside Terminal Two breaking down at 10am yesterday, which was also caused by a broken water pipe.
The airport suspended the water supply while the broken pipe was replaced.
The air conditioning was not fixed until 1:30pm.
The problems made the ministry a target of criticism by members of the Transportation Committee when Minister of Transport and Communications Hochen Tan (賀陳旦) was scheduled to brief lawmakers on the measures taken for the Dragon Boat Festival holiday.
Lawmakers said that both the June 2 flooding and the suspension of the water supply yesterday have happened because of construction carried out by the Pan Asia Corp (泛亞工程), adding that Taoyuan International Airport Corp has been lax in overseeing and managing the work.
Hochen said he was not told about the problem until 1am yesterday.
The airport is to seek compensation from Pan Asia based on the terms of the contract for the occurrence of these incidents, he said, adding that the airport needs to reinforce its efforts to oversee the construction and improve reporting of such incidents.
The airport said the broken pipeline was supposed to be fixed at 3:30am, but that the repairs were delayed by rain and were not finished until 7am. The water supply was resumed at 7:30am, the airport said.
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