The National Expressway Engineering Bureau on Monday said it would terminate its contract with Kuo Teng Construction Co if it fails to speed up construction of Kinmen Bridge.
Work on the bridge connecting the main island of Greater Kinmen (大金門) and Lieyu (烈嶼), also known as Little Kinmen, began in 2013 after it had been a campaign promise in five presidential elections.
Kinmen residents say the bridge will probably never be completed because of failures to keep up with the construction schedule and a series of accidents at the site.
The bureau said it might have to change the contractor for a third time, adding that Kuo Teng Construction has been instructed to increase the number of workers and boost construction materials, as well as to use more and better machinery to build the bridge.
“The contractor failed to bring in partners that were equipped with better machinery for the project, even though it was facing a shortage of workers and construction materials and clearly lacks the ability to handle the project on its own,” the bureau said in a statement.
“The contractor had fallen behind the construction schedule by 16.07 percent as of last month, which shows that it has neither the ambition nor the determination to expedite the progress of the work,” the bureau added.
It said that it informed Kuo Teng Construction in February that delays to the bridge’s construction mean the firm was barred from bidding for government projects for one year, adding that at the time, it was behind schedule by about 10 percent.
The bureau on Wednesday last week said that work on the bridge was nearly 19 percent behind schedule.
Based on the delays in construction, Kuo Teng Construction was officially notified that it must address the problem within 30 days or face termination of its contract with the government, the bureau said, adding that another qualified contractor would be recruited through a public tender so that work could proceed.
The bridge was the focus of a question-and-answer session at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee.
Public Construction Commission Minister Wu Hong-mo (吳宏謀) was asked what the commission would do to improve the quality and efficiency of public projects.
“My understanding is that the contractor lacks the ability to carry out the construction in deep water and has problems fulfilling the terms of the contract,” he said, adding he would seek to resolve the problem.
Wu said that the problem with public construction work in Taiwan is that contractors that are incapable of fulfilling the contract are often hired.
The key lies in that most government agencies prefer to choose the bidders that offer the cheapest packages for public contracts, fearing that they would be held accountable if the public were to accuse them of wasting taxpayers’ money.
Wu said his top priority is to make sure government workers are not afraid to hire firms that present the most comprehensive bids, adding that the commission would lay out the types of projects to which this bidding method applies.
The information for each project would be made transparent, including information on contractors’ safety records, he added.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS