The government will likely face challenges in renovating or rebuilding 50 dangerous bridges in the midst of typhoon season, but the project will continue nonetheless, officials said.
According to officials at the Directorate General of Highways, the typhoon period from July to September is likely to result in difficulties for the project because typhoons bring high winds and heavy rain.
In view of the damage done to bridges by Typhoon Sinlaku last year, the directorate decided to move forward the completion date of the project to the end of next year from 2012.
Driven by the need to meet the deadline, safety improvement work will go on into the typhoon season. In the past, similar projects only proceeded outside the typhoon season.
Since the beginning of this year, when the project was launched, work on three of the bridges — two in Miaoli County and one in Nantou County — has been completed, officials said.
While repair work is in progress on 33 bridges — of which nine are ahead of schedule — contractors in charge of repairs on the remaining 14 bridges will soon begin their rebuilding tasks, the officials said.
In February, the Executive Yuan approved a special four-year budget of NT$500 billion (US$15.3 billion) for the public works expansion program.
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