Parts of the Taipei New Horizon (臺北文創) complex’s walls are made with adulterated concrete that contained untreated slag from steel foundries, its management said in a news conference yesterday.
Chung-lu Construction Co (中鹿營造) — a subsidiary of Japan-based Kajima Corp — which built the high-rise building complex, had unknowingly purchased adulterated concrete and used it on the exterior walls of the building between levels one and six, Taipei New Horizon Co (臺北文創開發) said.
Taipei New Horizon had been involved in an ongoing dispute with the Taipei City Government over the management of the high-rise complex, with the latter accusing Taipei New Horizon of failing to honor its contractual obligations to promote creative and cultural industries.
Following a work crew’s discovery of “micro-protrusions” on the affected walls in 2012, Japanese experts from Kajima Corp traced the problem to concrete supplied by Asia Cement Corp’s (亞洲水泥) Ya-tung Ready-Mixed Concrete factory (亞東預拌混凝土), which was reportedly deceived by its raw-materials supplier, Taipei New Horizon said.
The discovery prompted the termination of the use of concrete from the compromised source, while inspections by third-party experts verified the structure was safe, Chung-lu and Taipei New Horizon said.
Chung-lu Construction president Chen Chao-hung (陳昭宏) said his firm built the complex according to the highest standards and it deeply regrets this incident, adding that it would not avoid its responsibilities and is continuing work to amend the problem.
Chen said that the Taipei New Horizon complex is the sole construction project his company has been in charge of that is known to have used the concrete from the affected source and that investigations did not reveal any other incidents of adulterated concrete among Chun-lu’s projects.
Ya-tung factory manager Yang Shih-chang (楊勢章) said that it was an incautious mistake, adding that the amount of slag in the concrete is minimal.
“We regret the troubles that such a mistake has caused,” Yang said.
“We immediately launched a strict inspection system to make sure that a similar incident does not happen again,” Yang said.
The Taipei Department of Cultural Affairs said it received notice of the issue on Thursday last week.
It said it would file a demand today that Taipei New Horizon perform comprehensive safety inspections on the complex through a third party that is approved by the department, citing the company’s obligations under the terms of the contract it signed with the city government.
In a related development, Yang declined to comment when asked to confirm or deny allegations that concrete it supplied to help construct the elevated section of National Freeway No. 1 connecting Wugu District (五股) in New Taipei City and Taoyuan City’s Yangmei District (楊梅) was adulterated with untreated slag.
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