Engineering experts yesterday confirmed that the Maokong Gondola system was situated in a sensitive area prone to landslides, and they urged the Taipei City Government to relocate the damaged support pillar known as Tower No. 16 to the northeast or southwest for the sake of the line’s safety.
“It is our conclusion and suggestion that the erosion around Tower No. 16 will continue and the tower should be relocated. However, the final decision is for the city government to make,” Shih Yi-fang (施義芳), spokesman for four civil engineering associations said yesterday at the Taipei Professional Civil Engineering Association.
The four associations were invited by the city government to conduct an evaluation on the system after the base of Tower No. 16 was eroded by mudslides. A full report was released yesterday and sent to the city government.
In the 120-page report, the associations said the tower was built in a sensitive area, and the heavy rains brought by typhoons accelerated the erosion. The city government should complete land conservation work on the slope and prevent further construction in that area, it said.
Shih said the selection of the location was not included among the evaluated items, but the Construction Law (建築法) states that areas that are prone to landslides and erosions should not be developed.
Lan Chao-hsiang (藍朝祥), director of the Taipei Structural Engineers Association, declined to comment on the city government’s failure to follow the suggestions and relocate the pillar immediately, and insisted that the associations’ duty was to present the evaluation.
“Even if the city government is not happy about what we said, our evaluation and suggestions remain the same,” he said.
The associations suggested that the damaged pillar be relocated 20m to 30m away from its current site, while urging the city government to complete Environmental Impact Assessments and land conservation plans before breaking ground on major construction projects for the sake of public safety.
In response, Taipei City Government spokesman Yang Hsiao-tung (羊曉東) said the evaluation report, which said the erosion was caused by the sensitive geology and heavy rain during the period, proved that Tower No. 16 was not the main cause of the erosion.
Yang said French company POMA, which was responsible for building and installing the gondola, had already sent staff to Taiwan on Thursday to discuss methods of dismantling the wire cable and cabins of the system.
The city government and POMA were also searching for alternative sites for the pillar, but the city government had not abandoned the possibility of rebuilding the pillar on its current site, he said.
Yang said the city government’s goal was to resume the gondola’s operation, but there would be no timetable as to when the service would reopen to the public.
Taipei City’s Department of Government Ethics is conducting a report on the responsibility of city officials in the construction of the gondola. Yang said the report was not yet complete.
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
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The annual Taipei Summer Festival, which starts today, is to tone down its fireworks displays, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said on Monday. Fireworks displays are to be held at the riverside site in Datong District’s (大同) Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area on four days at this year’s festival, with the first today, and then on Wednesday next week, July 31 and Aug. 10, the department said. There were eight displays last year, with the reduction aimed at minimizing inconvenience to local residents, it said. The first three shows, which are all on Wednesdays, are to last for five minutes, while the final