Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday said there was no timetable for the Maokong Gondola to resume service, dismissing allegations that it would start running again on Feb. 14.
The gondola’s operation was suspended on Oct. 1 last year after mudslides eroded the ground beneath a support pillar known as Tower No. 16. The city government began work to relocate the pillar in January, moving it about 30m closer to Tower No. 17.
“We will not announce a date for the gondola’s return to service until thorough inspections and test runs confirm its safety. There’s no timetable,” he said yesterday in response to a report in the Chinese-language United Daily News.
PHOTO: LIAO CHEN-HUEI, TAIPEI TIMES
The paper reported that the city’s New Construction Office would complete the relocation project next month, and that the gondola would resume operations on Feb. 14 in celebration of the first day of the Lunar New Year.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) and Huang Hsiang-chun (黃向群) yesterday visited the construction site in Muzha (木柵), and said the workers had only just dismantled the cables of the damaged pillar.
The city government still needed to remove the platform and set up the pillar and cable at its new location to complete the relocation work, they said.
“The relocation project is very complicated, and it is unlikely that the gondola can resume operation by Feb. 24,” Huang said.
The gondola is Taipei City’s first cable car system and a major municipal project under former Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration and was aimed at developing tourism in Muzha.
The line, stretching from the Taipei City Zoo to Maokong, a popular area known for its many teahouses, cost the city more than NT$1.3 billion (US$40.3 million). The relocation project will cost NT$21 million.
Hau had previously said the gondola would be reopened to the public around the Lunar New Year holidays, but later said that work would continue until the system’s safety had been confirmed.
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