The Taipei City Government yesterday announced it will relocate the Maokong Gondola system’s damaged support pillar and reported 11 city government officials and two contracting companies to the Control Yuan and the Taipei Prosecutors’ Office for further investigation into possible dereliction of their responsibilities.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) bowed and apologized to the public for the problematic system, but declined to comment on whether or not President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), the former Taipei mayor, should take some of the responsibility.
“I should take political responsibility for administrative negligence and I need to apologize to Taipei residents. I am sorry,” Hau said yesterday during a press conference at Taipei City Hall.
When asked by reporters whether or not former mayor Ma should also be held responsible, Hau refused to comment.
“I cannot answer that question for him,” Hau said.
The damaged support pillar, also known as Tower No. 16, will be relocated about 30m closer to Tower No. 17. The relocation project will be completed in about 11 months and will cost NT$21 million (US$620,000). The system could resume operations as early as the end of the year, Hau said.
The evaluation report was completed last month and it suggested that the city government relocate the damaged pillar. The city government had also completed a geology evaluation of the other 24 support pillars and installed monitoring devices under each to check on their stability, he said.
The city government yesterday also made public a report conducted by Taipei City Government’s Department of Government Ethics, which held 11 officials responsible for administrative negligence during the planning, construction and testing stages of the project.
With the exception of Department of Transportation Deputy Commissioner Lin Li-yu (林麗玉) and New Public Works Office Deputy Director Lin Chin-fan (林慶釩), no senior officials were mentioned in the report.
The report also blamed two contractors, CECI Engineering Consultants Inc and Chun Yuan Construction Co, for failing to complete geological drilling tests in accordance with the project plans.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors slammed the Government Ethics Department for sheltering Ma, Hau and other senior officials from responsibility.
“The report blamed all the problems on junior officials. Shouldn’t the decision-makers and supervising departments, including Ma, take full responsibility for starting the project?” DPP Taipei City Councilor Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said after reading the report.
In response, Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said the decision to build the gondola had been the correct one, as it had attracted more than 5 million visitors.
MILESTONE: The foreign minister called the signing ‘a major step forward in US-Taiwan relations,’ while the Presidential Office said it was a symbol of the nations’ shared values US President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed into law the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, which requires the US Department of State to regularly review and update guidelines governing official US interactions with Taiwan. The new law is an amendment to the Taiwan Assurance Act of 2020 focused on reviewing guidelines on US interactions with Taiwan. Previously, the state department was required to conduct a one-time review of its guidance governing relations with Taiwan, but under the new bill, the agency must conduct a review “not less than every five years.” It must then submit an updated report based on its findings “not later
The Presidential Office today thanked the US for enacting the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, which requires the US Department of State to regularly review and update guidelines governing official US interactions with Taiwan. The new law, signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday, is an amendment to the Taiwan Assurance Act of 2020 focused on reviewing guidelines on US interactions with Taiwan. Previously, the department was required to conduct a one-time review of its guidance governing relations with Taiwan, but under the new bill, the agency must conduct such a review "not less than every five years." It must then submit an updated
STAYING ALERT: China this week deployed its largest maritime show of force to date in the region, prompting concern in Taipei and Tokyo, which Beijing has brushed off Deterring conflict over Taiwan is a priority, the White House said in its National Security Strategy published yesterday, which also called on Japan and South Korea to increase their defense spending to help protect the first island chain. Taiwan is strategically positioned between Northeast and Southeast Asia, and provides direct access to the second island chain, with one-third of global shipping passing through the South China Sea, the report said. Given the implications for the US economy, along with Taiwan’s dominance in semiconductors, “deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority,” it said. However, the strategy also reiterated
CROSS-STRAIT COLLABORATION: The new KMT chairwoman expressed interest in meeting the Chinese president from the start, but she’ll have to pay to get in Beijing allegedly agreed to let Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) around the Lunar New Year holiday next year on three conditions, including that the KMT block Taiwan’s arms purchases, a source said yesterday. Cheng has expressed interest in meeting Xi since she won the KMT’s chairmanship election in October. A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a consensus on a meeting was allegedly reached after two KMT vice chairmen visited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤) in China last month. Beijing allegedly gave the KMT three conditions it had to
RSS