Dissolving the build-operate-transfer contract that the Taipei City Government signed with Taipei Dome complex contractor Farglory Group would create an impact equivalent to that of a “nuclear bomb,” Taipei Deputy Mayor Teng Chia-chi (鄧家基) said, as he dared Farglory to publish an arbitration award issued by the Taiwan Construction Arbitration Association (TCAA), which ruled the firm should have been granted a 110-day construction period extension for the project.
Teng heads the city’s negotiation with Farglory to resolve the standoff caused by the project.
Holding a copy of the arbitration award passed down by the TCAA — the cover of which bore his handwriting: “Would not publish. Why?” — Teng decried the “deceptive” claims Farglory made on Wednesday night.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kun, Taipei Times
With the exception of the extension, the TCAA rejected all of Farglory’s requests, including the firm’s initial request for an extension of 890 days, which the TCAA cut to 110 days, Teng said.
The TCAA ruled the firm should shoulder 77 percent of all fees stemming from the arbitration, he said.
“If it is so confident [about being granted further extensions], why does it not have the courage to reveal the entire truth?” Teng said.
He said Farglory asked the TCAA not to publish the arbitration award, adding that: “We will gladly publish the arbitration award immediately if Farglory so wishes.”
Farglory’s statement that it would seek a further extension of 1,582 days because the project had encountered obstruction from the city government and environmentalists was “humbug,” he said.
Teng said that there are three contractual violations Farglory has committed: it deviated from the construction plan, which has created public safety risks; the project fell seriously behind schedule; and it is reluctant to comply with the city’s demands that it improve the Dome’s evacuation facilities.
Meanwhile, he said that terminating the contract between the city and Farglory would be a “nuclear bomb” that would result in a zero-sum game.
The two parties should extend a “hand of friendship” toward each other and work out a reasonable solution to the project, he said.
Teng’s remarks drew a response from Farglory spokesman Jacky Yang (楊舜欽).
“We have extended a hand of friendship, but who is the one that has backstabbed us every time we have reached out? Who is the one that said we ‘reek of alcohol?’” Yang said.
Yang was referring to a remark by Hung Chi-kune (洪智坤) — a former aide to Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) — who made the alcohol comment about Farglory chairman Chao Teng-hsiung (趙藤雄) last year, prompting a lawsuit from the company.
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