Public transport failures
The removal and reconstruction of the Gongguan roundabout in Taipei’s Zhongzheng District (中正), originally scheduled to take 65 days as proposed by the design team and approved by city officials, was shortened to just 17 days and officially completed on Monday.
While Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) administration has been publicizing this achievement, it fails to recognize that completing the project in just one-quarter of the originally planned time highlights major miscalculations in the original design and approval process. That not only misled the public, but also suggests that the extended construction period might have been used to inflate the project’s budget. The city officials who approved the original plan should feel ashamed.
If the designer’s misjudgment of the construction period led to an inflated budget — with the city government paying the full contract amount even though the work was finished in just one-quarter of the estimated time — the city government would have incurred losses from being overcharged.
According to Article 63 of the Government Procurement Act (政府採購法), such contracts must stipulate “the responsibility of one party in the event that erroneous execution, falsity or poor management has caused damages to the other party.” Thus, the city government should hold the designer accountable for any design errors and seek compensation for the resulting losses.
Just one day after the completion of the roundabout’s removal, the intersection saw severe traffic congestion during morning rush hour. Routes leading into the city from Taipei’s Wenshan (文山) and Xindian (新店) districts via Roosevelt Road were completely jammed. Xinglong Road (興隆路) and Xinhai Road (辛亥路) were also affected. The resulting public outcry made it clear that the original planning and design were flawed. Chiang and the other city officials responsible should come forward and apologize, and those accountable should step down or face disciplinary action.
The Taipei City Government should also hold the contracted planning and design firm accountable for any errors in accordance with the aforementioned laws, including seeking compensation.
The Chiang administration refused to listen to the public. Removing the Gongguan roundabout and filling in the bus-only underpass was as absurd as proposing to demolish the Keelung Road underpass in front of City Hall. The project is undoubtedly the main reason why traffic has suddenly become so congested. It is too late to undue the damage, but how would city officials explain themselves to the many people now affected?
The government must urgently work to find a solution, for instance by constructing a new road to connect Wenshan District with the city center.
Su Chiang-hai
Taipei
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