The Control Yuan yesterday censured the Tourism Administration for failing to provide proper oversight of bridge maintenance in national parks.
The agency is the authority overseeing 94 bridges in national parks, 88 of which are footbridges, the Control Yuan said in a report.
However, its “Pedestrian Bridge Management Information System,” which records basic bridge information and inspection records, includes more than 100 entries in which information is either inconsistent or missing, the report said, adding that the agency also failed to train maintenance personnel.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsun, Taipei Times
It was also derelict in its duty to oversee and inspect the conditions of bridges that it subsidized and were built by local governments, as stated in the Regulations Governing the Management of Designated Scenic Areas (風景特定區橋梁維護管理作業要點), the report said.
Furthermore, it only completed its first inspection of bridges under its jurisdiction four years after the regulations came into effect, it said.
Of the 88 footbridges, 63 were special bridges built using non-traditional methods, such as cable-stayed and arch bridges, which are subject to a different set of regulations for maintenance, resulting in the bridges not being considered for “necessary repairs,” it said.
The agency was also negligent, because it failed to ensure uniformity of inspection schedules and did not notice that some inspection reports were the same as others, it said.
National scenic areas adopt the D.E.R.U. method, which assigns a value of one to four for degree, extent, relevancy and urgency, to rate when pedestrian bridges require maintenance.
However, the Alishan (阿里山), Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) and the East Coast national scenic areas failed to address multiple incidents that were listed as urgent, the report said.
The Control Yuan also found that the agency had failed to act, or cited a lack of funding to act, on a multitude of reports for footpaths that have been reported as damaged or requiring maintenance.
The agency should step up communication with local governments regarding the development of skybridges, as many have been built to draw tourism, but then fall into disrepair once their popularity fades, the report said.
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