Pan-green legislators clashed with National Science Council (NSC) officials in a legislative committee meeting yesterday, accusing the council of mismanaging an infrastructure project worth NT$8.4 billion (US$256 million) in the Southern Taiwan Science Park.
According to NSC officials, the project in question was designed to reduce vibrations caused by the new high-speed railway, which runs through the park.
Scores of chipmakers in the park canceled investments worth tens of billions of US dollars in 2001 due to fears that the vibrations would disrupt their operations, according to an August 2001 report in the Asian Wall Street Journal.
The NSC, which runs the park, launched the "vibration reduction" project that year to stem further investment loss, the report added.
In May, former NSC vice minister Shieh Ching-jyh (
Shieh, once the nation's premier rocket scientist, is the first Cabinet-level official in President Chen Shui-bian's (
Shieh's critics insist he steered the contract for the project to a crony company, a charge Shieh has denied.
"The project's cost was unreasonably high," Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Liao Pen-yen (
Liao added that the contract for the project was overpriced to benefit certain parties, and demanded a clear breakdown of its budget.
In August Liao claimed that Shieh was part of a conspiracy involving Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members to drive up the price of the contract and steer it to Sheus Technologies Corp, a local rubber manufacturer. Their goal, the lawmaker alleged, was to fleece taxpayers to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Liao then didn't explain his reasoning during the interview, or offer any evidence supporting his theory.
DPP Legislator Kuo Chun-ming (
Not all pan-green lawmakers in attendance were critical of Shieh, however.
DDP Legislators Kuan Bi-ling (
Chen Chien-jen said that Shieh had the sense of mission and responsibility to take on the tough project. He added that the project was on schedule, on budget and had performed well on numerous tests to gauge its effectiveness in dampening vibrations.
Top officials from the Public Construction Commission and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications corroborated Chen's comments at the meeting.
In a phone interview the Taipei Times last night, Shieh, who has been out on bail since July, said Sheus Technologies was chosen for the project because "their methodology was better at reducing vibrations than their competitors during the bidding process," which he described as a rigorous procedure conducted by a panel of engineers.
As for Liao's accusations, Shieh called them "fabrications," adding that the Control Yuan had already combed through his financial records as well as those of his wife, son and daughter.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
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