The long-delayed CKS International Airport-Taipei rail link is expected to take another step forward today when the Bureau of High Speed Rail once again asks for bids for the multi-billion dollar project.
The retender marks the second time this month that the bureau will seek proposals from major international companies to build the controversial rail system. The initial tender, on Sept. 7, failed dismally after only one company -- Itochu, which represents the Japanese firm Kawasaki -- bid for the project after the Canadian company Bombardier raised questions about the safety of the railway's design specifications.
German firm Siemens and the Japanese company Mitsubishi had also expressed interest in the project, but neither showed up that day after the safety concerns came to light.
Contracts
In accordance with Article 48 of the Government Procurement Act, contracts cannot be awarded unless there are "three or more qualified suppliers submitting their tenders" to the relevant authorities.
However, if the initial tender fails, the Act does allow for contracts to be awarded even if only one supplier makes a bid -- raising obvious questions about fairness and transparency when dealing with a NT$26 billion (US$812.5 million) contract with a high political profile.
"Why would only one company bid on a project like this? Simple. Because all of the other companies know who the contract has been engineered for, so they don't even bother trying," said one official with a British company, who asked not to be named. "The lack of transparency in the procurement process is a real problem."
Even some politicians have begun questioning the fairness of the government's procurement processes.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Peter Lin (
Despite reports in Japanese-language media that the former head of the bureau, Ho Nuan-hsuan (
Concern
People First Party Legislator Chung Shao-ho (
The CKS-Taipei rail link project was first attempted in 1997 -- and canceled in 2003 due to cost overruns and mismanagement -- and it is hardly the lone example of a project beset by delays and scandals.
The ministry is struggling to move forward with several critical infrastructure projects that have been dubbed priorities for President Chen Shui-bian (
Large-scale infrastructure projects such as the Taipei-Kaohsiung High Speed Rail project, the Kaohsiung MRT and the CKS-Taipei link have been mired in a storm of controversy since their inception.
Embarrassment
For example, the high speed rail link -- dubbed "Taiwan's Bullet" by the media -- recently suffered an embarrassing setback when it was revealed that it would not be completed by its Oct. 31 deadline.
The delay of at least one year will cost more than NT$19.3 billion, and the project will lose an estimated NT$50 billion in revenue.
Meanwhile, the Kaohsiung MRT project is under scrutiny by lawmakers after a riot by Thai laborers who had been abused by the company hired to manage them.
The government is now conducting an investigation into allegations of graft involving the project.
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said second-quarter revenue is expected to surpass the first quarter, which rose 30 percent year-on-year to NT$118.92 billion (US$3.71 billion). Revenue this quarter is likely to grow, as US clients have front-loaded orders ahead of US President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on Taiwanese goods, Delta chairman Ping Cheng (鄭平) said at an earnings conference in Taipei, referring to the 90-day pause in tariff implementation Trump announced on April 9. While situations in the third and fourth quarters remain unclear, “We will not halt our long-term deployments and do not plan to
TikTok abounds with viral videos accusing prestigious brands of secretly manufacturing luxury goods in China so they can be sold at cut prices. However, while these “revelations” are spurious, behind them lurks a well-oiled machine for selling counterfeit goods that is making the most of the confusion surrounding trade tariffs. Chinese content creators who portray themselves as workers or subcontractors in the luxury goods business claim that Beijing has lifted confidentiality clauses on local subcontractors as a way to respond to the huge hike in customs duties imposed on China by US President Donald Trump. They say this Chinese decision, of which Agence
RSS