Farglory Group spokesman Jacky Yang (楊舜欽) yesterday said rust removal for the Taipei Dome’s roof is mostly complete and that roofing is expected to commence next month, as Yang accompanied Taipei City councilors on the council’s Education Committee who were inspecting the site.
Completing the Taipei Dome’s roofing would be an engineering milestone and mark the completion of the main structure, Yang said, adding that Farglory expects the roofing and all 13 of the remaining safety-related remedial tasks to be completed by August next year.
The Dome would then enter a process in which its urban design and environmental impact would be reviewed, Yang said.
Photo: Tsai Ya-hua, Taipei Times
If the Dome passes the review process, the remainder of the work is to be finished in about 18 months, he said.
The rust has been mostly removed from the top of the Dome, project head Mashiko Imai, who works for Farglory’s contractor Taiwan Obayashi Corp, told the city councilors.
The next step in the project is to apply paint, soundproofing and insulation, Mashiko said.
The rust removal is estimated to cost about NT$400 million (US$13.18 million), Mashiko said in response to questions from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei city councilors Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) and Chin Huei-chu (秦慧珠).
Meanwhile, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) denied that work on the Dome is being rushed to help him in next year’s Taipei mayor election.
There is no fixed timetable for the Dome’s completion, Ko told radio show host Huang Kuan-chin (黃光芹).
“My only concern is to move forward while ensuring public safety and following the law. I cannot pretend that I didn’t see anything because it was done in the past,” he said.
“This is like an exam; until Farglory takes the test, we will not know the results,” Ko said, adding that the reviews will provide transparency and that Farglory should take preparations for it seriously.
Earlier, Ko’s former chief campaign executive director Yao Li-ming (姚立明), who is now a political commentator, had criticized his old boss in an interview.
Yao said the city government’s legal team was poised to dissolve the Dome contract with Farglory, but that Ko overruled the decision, saying: “Have you forgotten that I have an election campaign to run?”
Yao also claimed that Ko ordered a turnover of his legal team after the meeting.
Asked to comment on Yao’s claims, Ko said that he is not opposed to dissolving the contract, but such an action must be clearly planned, as he is a responsible politician.
The mayor also denied Yao’s allegation that he sent his chief of staff Tsai Pi-ju (蔡壁如) to take part in under-the-table talks with Farglory Group chairman Chao Teng-hsiung (趙藤雄).
“Tsai is innocent in this. If I have stuff to hash out with Chao, I would not send a person who knows nothing. Why should I do that when I have a Department of Finance commissioner for the job? Tsai was just delivering paperwork and making telephone calls,” Ko said.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai