Grouting was yesterday used to repair a section of road in Taipei, after work on a construction site caused the surface to partially collapse on Friday evening, the Taipei Construction Management Office said yesterday, adding that nearby buildings were not affected.
The road surface of Qingcheng Street near the intersection with Xingan Street in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) collapsed at about 9pm on Friday. When police arrived they found four cars parked by the roadside tilting to one side.
Police estimated the area that had subsided was about 4m by 30m, and was about 1.5m deep. They cordoned off the surrounding area to prevent injuries.
Photo: Yang Hsin-hui, Taipei Times
The Taipei Construction
Management Office said it received a report about the collapse at 9:15pm, and immediately sent officials there.
At the site on Friday evening, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said that a preliminary assessment had found that excavations had not started at the construction site, and only a guide ditch had been dug.
However, the guide ditch collapsed, along with the adjoining roadside surface, he said, adding that emergency grouting work was being done to prevent the road from collapsing further.
Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Shu-chuan (李四川), also on-site on Friday evening, said that the builders would be ordered to halt operations, and would only be allowed to start again after submitting a plan and passing a safety review.
The grouting work was expected to be completed yesterday, he said.
The office said in a news release yesterday morning that the construction company is Pujen Land Development Co (璞真建設) and the contractor is Continental Engineering Co (大陸工程), adding that construction began on Sept. 12, 2022.
A 14m-deep, 1.2m-wide guide ditch was being constructed, but lacked sufficient internal support causing the outer roadside surface to sink, the office said, adding that a civil engineer association, structural engineer association, architect association and geotechnical engineer association have been contacted to help assess the situation.
A preliminary assessment by the associations found that nearby buildings had not been affected, the office said, adding that it had ordered operations at the site to be halted and had issued a fine of NT$180,000.
Grouting along the inner side of the guide ditch has been completed by 1:30pm yesterday, while grouting along the outer side of the ditch and fence began at 3pm, it said adding that grouting work on the road was expected to begin at 6pm.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to