The Hsinchu Baseball Stadium has a faulty drainage system and its surface is unsafe for players, a report released yesterday by the Hsinchu City Government found.
Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and the city government commissioned US landscaping services company BrightView for on-site inspection and analysis reporting.
BrightView, an MLB field consultant company based in Pennsylvania, was brought in for an inspection and soil analysis as an “impartial third party,” Kao said.
Photo: Hung Mei-hsiu, Taipei Times
The ballpark reopened in July last year after major renovation under former Hsinchu mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
If the stadium’s “surface layer becomes compact and dry it becomes excessively hard. This condition creates an increased risk for player[s] to field contact injuries,” said the BrightView report that was released yesterday, adding that the situation is “making the field slow to drain and unplayable during wet periods.”
“The composition of this material does not meet general standards for professional, high school or parks and recreational infield mix design. The ratio of sand, silt and clay does not comply with industry standards for baseball infield mix,” it said.
The inspection and subsurface analysis were necessary, after numerous problems and injury to several players when the stadium, home to the Wei Chuan Dragons, held two CPBL games July last year, the city government said.
First opened in 1976 for use by schools, amateur teams and semiprofessionals, the venue then hosted games for professional clubs when Taiwan’s top-level CPBL baseball circuit started in 1990.
The Hsinchu City Government drafted plans for renovation in 2017, for which Taoyuan-based Gigabest Construction Co secured the contract and commenced work in 2019, with funding from both central and local governments. The budget for stadium construction was NT$870 million (US$27.4 million), with an additional NT$320 million budget for its underground parking lot.
The city government in 2019 handed the execution of renovation work and supervision of contractors to Ting Hsin Group, owner of the Wei Chuan Dragons.
After releasing the report, Kao and TPP members requested that Hsinchu prosecutors launch an investigation into the Lin administration’s role in the stadium’s faulty renovation.
However, some sports experts and baseball fans attributed the problems to the main contractor Gigabest Construction, and Ting Hsin Group’s two subsidiaries, for not complying with stipulations and requirements in the project agreement.
Prosecutors yesterday said they have been collecting evidence and following developments, adding that they have already interviewed witnesses and persons of interest.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS