Grouting was yesterday used to repair a section of road in Taipei, after work on a construction site caused the surface to partially collapse on Friday evening, the Taipei Construction Management Office said yesterday, adding that nearby buildings were not affected.
The road surface of Qingcheng Street near the intersection with Xingan Street in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) collapsed at about 9pm on Friday. When police arrived they found four cars parked by the roadside tilting to one side.
Police estimated the area that had subsided was about 4m by 30m, and was about 1.5m deep. They cordoned off the surrounding area to prevent injuries.
Photo: Yang Hsin-hui, Taipei Times
The Taipei Construction
Management Office said it received a report about the collapse at 9:15pm, and immediately sent officials there.
At the site on Friday evening, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said that a preliminary assessment had found that excavations had not started at the construction site, and only a guide ditch had been dug.
However, the guide ditch collapsed, along with the adjoining roadside surface, he said, adding that emergency grouting work was being done to prevent the road from collapsing further.
Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Shu-chuan (李四川), also on-site on Friday evening, said that the builders would be ordered to halt operations, and would only be allowed to start again after submitting a plan and passing a safety review.
The grouting work was expected to be completed yesterday, he said.
The office said in a news release yesterday morning that the construction company is Pujen Land Development Co (璞真建設) and the contractor is Continental Engineering Co (大陸工程), adding that construction began on Sept. 12, 2022.
A 14m-deep, 1.2m-wide guide ditch was being constructed, but lacked sufficient internal support causing the outer roadside surface to sink, the office said, adding that a civil engineer association, structural engineer association, architect association and geotechnical engineer association have been contacted to help assess the situation.
A preliminary assessment by the associations found that nearby buildings had not been affected, the office said, adding that it had ordered operations at the site to be halted and had issued a fine of NT$180,000.
Grouting along the inner side of the guide ditch has been completed by 1:30pm yesterday, while grouting along the outer side of the ditch and fence began at 3pm, it said adding that grouting work on the road was expected to begin at 6pm.
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