Taipei City Government is set to reopen the Maokong Gondola — which has been shut down for 16 months because of safety reasons — after an examination report released yesterday concluded the system was safe.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) told a press conference held after the weekly city affairs meeting that the city would adhere to two principles in reopening the gondola: respect the opinion of professionals and ensure the operation is safe. They would also fully cooperate with professional engineers and follow their advice on improving the system.
“We don't have any timetable,” he said. “But we are optimistic that operations will resume in spring.
As Hau is scheduled to travel abroad on March 28, Luo Shiaw-shyan (羅孝賢), commissioner of the city's Department of Transportation, said the system was likely to resume operations before the mayor's trip abroad.
Taipei City Government spokeswoman Chao Hsin-ping (趙心屏) said Hau would inspect the system tomorrow. Once approved by Hau, the system would start trial runs, Chao said.
The system, which was built during President Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) term as Taipei mayor, has been shut down since October 2008 after the foundation of a support pillar were eroded during a typhoon. Hau's administration has been censured by the Control Yuan over the construction of the system.
The city commissioned the Chinese Union of Professional Civil Engineer Associations about six months ago to conduct a thorough inspection and present recommendations.
Union chairman James Yu (余烈) said the inspection conducted by 29 of the association's civil engineers concluded that the system was “absolutely safe,” unless there's a typhoon or torrential rain.
Their examination also found that the design, construction method and engineering quality all met requirements, he said.
He said, however, that any design was “not 100 percent perfect.”
He classified the 25 pillars into three categories based on five indicators: pillar foundation is less than 10m deep, slope inclination is more than 40º, a slope is more than 20m in length, distance between pillars is less than 3m and rocks comprise less than 50 percent of the foundation.
Category A refers to pillars that contain all these faults and are the weakest, he said.
“It is like a premature baby who manages to live but requires a lot of medical care,” he said.
To ensure the comfort of passengers, Yu recommended the city install solar panels to generate power for air ventilation or an electrical fan.
Yu also asked the city to strengthen its crackdown on bamboo plantations, vegetables or tea on the hillside to protect the soil around the pillars' foundation.
Once the system is reopened, Yu said the city should continue to monitor the devices placed underground, on the surface and above ground. The system should be suspended once indicators exceed safety levels and measures should be taken to fix the problem or shut it down.
Yu said they conducted the inspection free of political intervention and that they had made it clear to the government that they would terminate the contract if it refused to cooperate.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) is set to issue sea and land warnings for Tropical Storm Krathon as projections showed that the tropical storm could strengthen into a typhoon as it approaches Taiwan proper, the CWA said yesterday. The sea warning is scheduled to take effect this morning and the land warning this evening, it said. The storm formed yesterday morning and in the evening reached a point 620 nautical miles (1,148km) southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, moving west-southwest at 4 kph as it strengthened, the CWA said. Its radius measured between 220km and 250km, it added. Krathon is projected
RSS