The Taipei City Government is to ask Farglory Group, builder and operator of the Taipei Dome, to address unresolved water leaks at different locations in the stadium and plans to include related construction deficiencies in its annual operational evaluation scheduled for early next year, a city official said.
Water leaks have occurred at several sporting events at the Taipei Dome since late last year, including on Dec. 3, the second day of the Asian Baseball Championship.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Another leak was reported during the first of two exhibition baseball games between the CTBC Brothers and the Yomiuri Giants of Japan last month.
On Sunday, water leaked from the roof onto the second tier of the left outfield seating area during a CPBL baseball game between the Weichuan Dragons and the CTBC Brothers, forcing dozens of fans to move to another area.
Asked about the issue, Taipei Department of Sports Commissioner Wang Hung-shiang (王泓翔) said that according to the Taipei Dome construction and operation contract, the city government must conduct an annual operational performance evaluation one year after the stadium started official operations on Feb. 2.
Wang said that an evaluation team is expected to be established by the end of this year and would likely conduct a performance assessment in the first half of next year, with all structural flaws in the Taipei Dome reported this year included in the evaluation scoring system.
The assessment items include contract fulfillment, level of satisfaction with stadium operations, as well as environment management and maintenance, and equipment maintenance and repair, Wang said.
If Farglory scores less than 70 points out of 100 for two consecutive years, its performance would be deemed poor and that would constitute a breach of contract, he said.
He added that the Taipei City Government would ask Farglory to make improvements within a fixed time period and if it failed to do so, financial institutions could be allowed to temporarily take over or discontinue part or all of the operations.
In the most serious scenario, the government could terminate the contract.
However, Wang said it is unlikely that the Taipei Dome operator would receive a poor performance evaluation for water leaks because such leaks are common in newly constructed buildings and do not affect public safety, despite inconveniencing fans.
The local government would urge Farglory to deal with the leaks, but according to the contract, water leaks do not constitute an operational deficiency and the city government cannot fine Farglory over the issue, Wang said.
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