Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said that the Taipei City Government has revised regulations for assessing reported damage to neighboring facilities caused by construction projects, allowing on-site inspections to be conducted by third-party experts and paid for by the construction developer.
In the past week, city councilors and civil engineers have criticized the city’s regulations for handling disputes over a construction causing damage to neighboring facilities. This comes after a construction site on Dazhi Street in Taipei caused serious damage to adjacent buildings on Sept. 7, resulting in the evacuation of its residents.
The regulations were criticized for letting the construction developers “play the roles of player and referee simultaneously,” when the city government receives a complaint about suspected damage, the construction developer and its supervisors are then responsible for assessing whether the damage was caused by their work.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
As early as March, residents of the damaged Dazhi Street buildings had reported suspected damage, but the city’s Department of Urban Development in July responded that the on-site inspection showed no danger to public safety, so the construction project was allowed to continue.
While visiting the site on Friday morning, Chiang said he had asked the Department of Urban Development (UDD) and the Construction Management Office to review the regulations, to which a decision was made to include six new rules.
First, after residents had reported suspected damages caused from a nearby construction project, the on-site inspection would not only be conducted by the construction developer and its supervisors, but also with department personnel and third-party civil engineers, he said.
Second, the public safety assessment, also approved by a third-party civil engineers’ association, will be shortened from within 14 days to within three days, and those identified with public safety risks will be ordered to halt construction and submit improvement measures, he said.
Third, the assessment on neighboring facilities’ damages would also be re-examined and approved by a third-party civil engineers’ association, Chiang said, adding that fourth, if the residents are not satisfied with the assessment, they can ask for another third-party judgement, which would be paid for by the construction developer.
Next, if a construction project has been deemed a threat to public safety, the city government would publicize the developer’s construction license number, construction site address, and the names of its supervisors and contractors, he said.
Last, Chiang said the city government would increase the frequency of on-site safety inspections at construction sites with basement excavations to monthly and seasonal inspections, to ensure public safety.
The Control Yuan on Thursday said three of its members have applied to investigate the residents’ case of the damaged Dazhi Street buildings.
The residents had reported many times about the damage, but the city government still allowed the construction project to continue operations, they said.
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