A survey of the Taipei Dome construction site, made jointly by the Taipei Department of Urban Development, Farglory Group and city councilors, ended in mutual recriminations yesterday, with Farglory reiterating its desire to resume building the dome and the city government again rejecting the proposal, in spite of a consensus on April 14 to dissolve the contract.
Held to investigate reports of steel erosion and purported attenuation of the dome’s foundations by “upward buoyant forces,” the survey produced separate and contradicting statements from city officials, Farglory representatives and city councilors, which were followed by heated public statements later in the day.
Taipei Department of Urban Development Commissioner Lin Jou-min (林洲民) said in his press briefing that Farglory had made the stadium complex unsafe by altering the original blueprints without seeking city approval, including the removal of 17 staircases.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The city government’s previous evaluations were sanctioned by the central government and conducted with the full participation of the Taiwan Architecture and Building Center, he said, adding that Farglory had violated the law by secretly making changes to the original design over a period of 50 months without informing regulators of those changes.
However, in its separate press briefing, Farglory general manager Tang Chia-feng (湯佳峰) categorically denied any wrongdoing, saying: “Each detail of the dome had been done in accordance with the law and the contract without a single iota of error, and the Taipei City Government’s claims are without any merit whatsoever.”
Farglory only consented to dissolve the contract to build the dome because it wishes to cooperate with the government, and its preference was and still is to restore the contract “as soon as possible,” Tang said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
He added that in Farglory’s view, the city government’s allegations of public safety violations are “manufactured issues.”
Farglory maintains that it had legally obtained permission to change the design when it applied for relicensing in 2013, Tang said.
After participating in the survey, Democratic Progressive Party City Councilor Tang Chung-yen (童仲彥) told reporters that the unfinished stadium is “a big rotten egg,” and that both the city government and Farglory were to blame.
Although Farglory has an ongoing obligation to safeguard public safety at the Taipei Dome construction area, the developer removed instruments for measuring water pressure from the site as soon as the city government announced its decision to suspend work on the dome, Tang said.
The Department of Urban Development was apparently unaware of this maneuver, because it had recently assured the public that there is nothing wrong with the site by using outdated buoyancy figures from measurements made in July last year, Tang said.
“The Taipei City Government and the Farglory Group deserve 50 strokes of the cane each,” he said.
Taipei City Government spokesman Sidney Lin (林鶴明) said it was Farglory that was “manufacturing issues,” and unless Farglory resolves its unauthorized design changes, Taipei would not consider restoring the contract.
“Farglory’s attempt to mislead public opinion is irresponsible and impractical,” Lin said.
Additional reporting by CNA
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS