A lawmaker and a Hualien County Councilor of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday questioned the Hualien County Government over permission it granted for a road race event to a private firm for a maximum of 30 years, saying the move is an abuse of administrative power.
The Executive Yuan’s Public Construction Commission said on June 5 that the county government had violated the principle of proportionality after the county recently allowed a private firm to stage the event for 15 years, with a conditional extension of the contract for another 15 years, DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) and Hualien County Councilor Liu Hsiao-mei (劉曉玫) of the DPP told a press conference.
“It puzzles me how the county could come up with a 30-year contract, which is longer than seven four-year commissioner terms,” Liu said. “Government contracts to stage road race events in other regions are usually awarded on a yearly basis.”
The tendering regulations said that the bid could be awarded even if there was only one bidder, and the county did not announce the winner of the bid on May 29, which raised suspicions of potential corruption, Chen said.
Responding to the issue, the county government said the bidding process was transparent, fair and just, adding that the term was set at 15 years because the government wished to institutionalize the rights of way in the county, the Central News Agency reported.
The Government Procurement Act (政府採購法) stipulates that all government bids should adhere to the principle of proportionality, according to the Public Construction Commission.
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