Lawmakers at a session of the legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday asked the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) to hold CECI Engineering Consultants (世曦工程) accountable for its negligence in overseeing construction projects at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, following a series of incidents over the past two weeks.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) said the much-delayed Taoyuan Airport Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) System and recent flooding at Taoyuan airport have become the nation’s two biggest embarrassments. The former was supposed to be overseen by Sinotech Consultants (中興工程), which was a state-run company under the Ministry of Economic Affairs. The latter was supervised by CECI, also a state-run firm under the MOTC.
Cheng said the government has been forced to postpone the launch of the Taoyuan Airport MRT System six times, even though Sinotech Consultants was paid NT$2.1 billion (US$64.73 million) to oversee the system’s construction between 1999 and this year.
Taoyuan airport also recruited CECI to oversee construction projects at the airport, Cheng said, adding that it did not stop embarrassing incidents at the airport’s terminals, including flooding on June 2, a power outage on June 5, the suspension of water supply on Sunday, and a power outage and water leaks on Tuesday.
Cheng said that CECI has been paid NT$4 billion to oversee 16 construction projects at the airport in the past five years, which accounted for about 20 percent of its businesses.
While MOTC Minister Hochen Tan (賀陳旦) replaced Taoyuan International Airport Corp’s (TIAC) chairman and president after the flooding on June 2, managers at CECI have been able to keep their jobs, Cheng said, adding that the ministry should consider replacing CECI’s management if the move is deemed necessary.
MOTC Deputy Minister Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said that CECI used to have a group of really good civil engineers, but it apparently now has a talent gap.
He said that CECI has not been living up to the public’s expectation of the company in recent years.
DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) yesterday said that CECI was a profitable firm in 2013, with its profit topping NT$900 million. The company also gave a bonus of NT$720 million to its employees that year, she said.
As the construction projects it oversaw have become national embarrassments, Yeh said that CECI should be listed by the Public Construction Commission as an ill-performing construction firm, whose experience would serve as a reminder to other contractors.
Management salaries should be scrutinized as well, Yeh added.
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