Taipei City Government officials yesterday denied that fiber optic lines installed inside the natural gas pipeline network of the Greater Taipei Gas Corp (
Local fixed line telecom companies reportedly have installed fiber optic lines in the city's sewers, as well as its gas pipes.
"It's not only safe but also legal to lay fiber optic lines inside natural gas pipes," said Huang Jung-feng (
"We didn't find any safety problems on Nov. 8 or Nov. 9 when we conducted checks at sites where fiber optic lines have been installed inside natural gas pipes," he said.
Huang added that other nations -- including the Netherlands, Italy and Germany -- use the same practice, and the US and Hong Kong are considering allowing the practice as well.
"The Ministry of Economic Affairs in January of this year approved the Greater Taipei Gas Corp's application [to lay fiber optic lines inside gas pipes]. Additionally, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications issued an installation permit in March of this year and a special communication license in June of this year," he said.
Huang made the statements in response to allegations made by KMT City Councilor Wang Hao (
"The city cannot favor financial syndicates [fixed line telecom companies] at the expense of the public interest," Wang said.
In addition to the Greater Taipei Gas, Yangmingshan Gas Corp (
Greater Taipei Gas accounts for 71 percent of the city's residential gas connections, whereas Yangmingshan Gas and Hsinhu Gas account for 16 and 13 percent, respectively.
A poll administered by Wang and five other city councilors between Oct. 23 and Nov. 9 showed that nearly 55 percent of the people queried said that Greater Taipei Gas should remove fiber optic lines from their network, while only 7 percent polled said that they should be allowed to remain.
More than 35 percent of those who believe the fiber optic lines should be removed also said that they were afraid the pipes might explode and over 45 percent said that they were afraid they might catch fire.
People in 355 borough wardens in 10 of the city's districts were polled. People in Wenshan and Peitou districts were not polled because residential gas lines are not available in those areas.
More than 80 percent of the borough wardens polled said that they were not aware that their natural gas pipes may contain fiber optic lines, while 9 percent said they knew the lines were there.
When asked whether it was acceptable that their natural gas pipes may have fiber optic lines inside, 47 percent said no while 5 percent said it wasn't a problem.
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
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