New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) is “hiding like a turtle” amid a mounting scandal over a public housing complex in the city, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) said yesterday.
“This is Chu’s attitude on the Fujhou (浮洲) public housing complex in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋): The project was proposed by the Construction and Planning Agency [CPA] and constructed by Radium Life Tech Co, so the CPA should be held responsible for failing to monitor the quality of the construction, while Radium should be pursued for its poor construction quality,” Tuan wrote on Facebook.
“What about Mayor Chu and the New Taipei City Government? Well, of course, they stand with the public,” Tuan wrote.
“The label of ‘liar’ placed on Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) should now be put on Chu’s nose,” he said.
Tuan said that even though the CPA, a Ministry of the Interior agency, presided over the project, the New Taipei City Government was also on the panel of reviewers that chose Radium for the project.
While there have been many controversies over project management and construction quality, the city government still issued the first building occupancy permit on Feb. 9, Tuan said.
“If not for the recent disputes, the New Taipei City Government would have already issued the remaining occupancy permits,” he said.
Tuan was referring to discoveries by homeowners of foreign objects — such as plastic cups — inside walls and other structures when they moved in earlier this month, as well as cracks that appeared at various locations in the buildings and the underground garage after a magnitude 6.3 earthquake occurred last month.
“I wonder if the New Taipei City Government really inspected the buildings and the construction quality before issuing the first occupancy permit,” Tuan said, adding that Chu should shoulder responsibility for the matter.
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