Taoyuan International Airport Corp’s (TIAC) decision to extend the public tendering deadline for Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project by 45 days would not cause further construction delays, Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday.
The deadline for the second phase of the bidding was previously set for Thursday next week, but as of Nov. 5, two interested bidders had submitted 1,582 requests for clarification of the contract terms, construction plans and bidding procedures, TIAC said on Wednesday.
“To ensure that the procurement contract is handled fairly and reasonably, we find it necessary to give interested bidders adequate time to review changes to the contract, the construction plans and other bidding documents,” TIAC said. “Given this, we’ve decided to extend the deadline until 10am on Jan. 18.”
On Aug. 21, TIAC chose two qualified bidders in the first phase, it said, adding that one bidder has brought a 42-member team of specialists to Taiwan to prepare for the second phase, while the other bidder brought a 28-member team.
Each team has been delayed by visa application procedures and the quarantine requirement in their review of the project documents, it added.
Lin was asked by reporters on the sidelines of the Legislative Yuan’s Transportation Committee whether the extension would further delay construction, given that a lack of bidders already prompted the ministry to postpone the project’s completion until 2026.
“No, I don’t think so,” Lin said. “The two teams have many questions, for which both the Civil Aeronautics Administration and TIAC will need to prepare and provide translation. They will need about 45 days to finish all of the necessary work.”
One bidder is South Korea’s Samsung C&T Corp and Taiwan’s RSEA Engineering Corp, while the other bidder is the Taiwan branch of the Tokyo-based Taisei Corp and Taiwan’s Continental Engineering Co.
Phase 2 clinical trial results of the Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp’s COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday were published on the Web site of The Lancet: Respiratory Medicine, in an early preview before publication. The study paves the way for other nations to issue emergency use authorizations or produce the Medigen vaccine, given The Lancet’s credibility as a highly respected medical journal with a rigorous peer-review process, Medigen’s international affairs director Lien Chia-en (連加恩) said. Lien said that the study is important as it proposes methods for converting international units for efficacy comparisons. The methods have been used for correlating the efficacy of hepatitis B
LIABILITIES MULLED: New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi said Taipei would find out if the firm was legally registered, the guide was licensed and the weather was assessed The assets of Tian Da Local Nature Co are to be frozen after at least four people died after falling into the Beishi River (北勢溪) on an outing the company had organized on Saturday, the Taipei City Government said yesterday. Six people — two adults and four children — were washed away by a flash flood on the river in New Taipei City’s Hubaotan (虎豹潭) area. They were participating in a Nature Joy Camp outdoor activity with a group of 16 adults and 15 children led by a guide surnamed Su (蘇). As of 4:30pm yesterday, four of the missing had been
THREATS: Dismissing Beijing’s assertion that its military exercises only target Taiwanese separatists, Chiu Kuo-cheng said war has no regard for political affiliation In case Taiwan is attacked, the military will defend the nation and not stand by like “plastic toys,” Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said yesterday at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. Chiu was responding to Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) asking him to clarify his remark last week that “the military holds to the principle that we will not fire the first shot.” Wang asked Chiu whether he meant what he said literally or that Taiwan would not start a war. “The Republic of China will not start a war,” Chiu
Taiwanese worked more hours than people in all but three other countries in the world last year, Ministry of Labor data showed. Singapore placed first in average hours worked among the 40 economies surveyed, with an average of 2,288 hours per worker last year, the data showed. The city-state was followed by Colombia with 2,172 hours — based on 2019 data — and Mexico with 2,124 hours, it showed. Taiwan came in fourth, with 2,021 hours, it showed. South Korean workers clocked the third-most hours in Asia, with 1,908 hours, followed by Japan with 1,598 hours, it showed. However, compared with 2019, the survey found
RSS