The National Audit Office said it has reported the National Police Agency (NPA) to the Control Yuan over alleged misconduct involving the establishment of a “national counterterrorism training center,” a complex that remains incomplete after millions of New Taiwan dollars in investment.
Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in the US, the Ministry of the Interior’s National Policy Agency proposed building a national counterterrorism training center in what is now Taoyuan’s Sinwu District (新屋), with a budget of NT$550 million (US$16.74 million) and construction set for 2004 to 2008.
However, the project experienced multiple setbacks, including an unfavorable environmental impact study by regulators, repeated revisions to the original plans and a contractor dropping out due to financial difficulties.
The center’s construction finally started in 2011, three years after it was supposed to be completed. Then-premier Jiang Yi-hua (江宜樺) officiated its groundbreaking. The center was to be completed in late 2013 and start operating in July last year, according to the revised timetable, which was not met.
Plans for the 29-hectare center include an administrative building, a barracks, cafeteria and various drill facilities, such as a simulated town, a semi-enclosed hostage rescue and assault training compound, a climbing and rappelling facility, and a counterterrorism tactics compound.
The center was supposed to become an international platform for counterterrorism in the Asia-Pacific region, where US advisers would provide expertise and training to law enforcement officers and troops from its ally nations, including Taiwan.
Media reports have said that the center’s repeated delays have put into question the future of counterterrorism cooperation between Taiwan and the US.
In an audit report submitted to the central government, the National Audit Office identified multiple failures and infractions in conduct by the National Police Agency. It said that the agency spent three years and five months to finalize its budget plan with the ministry, and project managers incurred cost overruns because they failed to adhere to it.
The blueprints submitted to the Public Construction Committee were found to be unsatisfactory, and their modification contributed to further delays, the audit office said.
Furthermore, the agency did not carefully evaluate the contractor’s ability to meet its obligations before awarding the contract and failed to terminate it promptly when it became clear that the contractor would not be able to deliver, the report said.
Since the agency failed to investigate or punish those involved in the training center project, auditors said they decided to report the case to the Control Yuan in accordance with the Audit Act (審計法).
The National Police Agency said it has had difficulty finding a new contractor, but that work on the center had resumed in July and it expects the center to be completed in August next year.
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