After a 30m-long crack on a road was reported next to a construction site in Taipei’s Nangang District (南港) on Tuesday, the Taipei Construction Management Office said it had asked the construction site operator to improve the problem within a week.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Ho Meng-hua (何孟樺) on Tuesday said that she received reports from local residents about the crack on Lane 77, Tong Hsin Street, in Nangang District, and that following a construction site on Dazhi Road last week that caused the partial collapse of nearby residential buildings, local residents were worried.
Police officers and firefighters arrived at site on Tuesday afternoon and cordoned off the area with a temporary fence, the office said, adding that its preliminary understanding is that the cracked road was caused by heavy rainfall and construction vehicles.
Photo: CNA
Ho, DPP Legislator Kao Chia-yu (高嘉瑜) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) visited the site separately with civil engineers yesterday to better understand the situation.
When asked by Kao if the Nangang construction site had caused damage to neighboring buildings, Taipei Construction Management Office official Hung Chung-yen (洪崇嚴) said that when the construction site operator demolished an old building last year, it had caused damage to nearby buildings, so it had been listed for monitoring and it resumed construction this year after the damage had been repaired.
He said the construction site has not begun large-scale excavation, but the city government would enhance its inspections and data monitoring after it begins, and that the crack has been assessed to have been caused by heavy construction vehicles, so it has asked the construction site operator to repair the road within seven days.
Ho said on Facebook yesterday the office originally told her the damage would be fixed after construction had been completed, but since the Dazhi Road incident had made local residents worried, the repairs were expected to begin yesterday.
The city government should proactively inspect the more than 730 construction sites in the city and also review the regulations on construction that causes damage to neighboring buildings, she said, adding that the inspections should be done by a third party to make it easier for residents to report any damage.
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