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Old Posted Oct 15, 2014, 3:22 PM
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Construction of 'Twin Towers' to be carried out by Taipei City: Hau

By Chi-hao James Lo, The China Post
October 15, 2014, 12:01 am TWN


TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday announced that the prolonged construction difficulties of the “Taipei Twin Towers” (雙子星) will be resolved, with the project no longer up for bids from development companies.




During his inspection of the construction of the MRT Taoyuan Airport Line, Hau said that the Twin Towers project has faced multiple difficulties since it was first conceived.

As such, Hau stated that the project's investment and construction development will instead be handled by the Taipei City Government's Department of Rapid Transit Systems (DORTS, 臺北市政府捷運工程局), with the total construction value estimated to be around NT$60 billion. The mayor also stated that he hopes for the project to be completed within five or six years under the administration of DORTS.

The decision was reportedly made partially as a result of the project's developer BES Construction Co. (BES, 中華工程) failing to provide the necessary documentation, fees and funds as requested by the Taipei City Government. BES had previously received the project after the project's forerunning bidder, Taipei Gateway International Development Co. Ltd. (TGID, 太極雙星), was found to be incapable of fulfilling the terms of the construction plan.

Previously, BES protested against 10 additional stipulations that were imposed by the Taipei City Government, claiming that the required sum to secure a financing guarantee was absurd, prompting BES to bring the case to the Taipei High Administrative Court (臺北高等行政法院). However, the court rejected the firm's complaint on Oct. 6. Following the ruling, BES openly stated that the company will continue to seek legal action.




DORTS Officials Explain Twin Tower Project

During an interview, DORTS Commissioner Tsai Hui-sheng (蔡輝昇) stated that construction will likely begin as soon as the project is deemed to have met the stipulations of the Environmental Impact Assessment Act.

DORTS officials also said that the buildings' foundations, which are the most difficult and most time consuming aspects of the construction project, have already been completed, meaning that the MRT Songshan Line could begin operation at the end of the year as planned.

The completion of the foundations will also enable DORTS to continue building the project without much difficulty.

Reportedly, NT$30 billion from DORTS' Land Development Fund has also been included into the project fund to serve as emergency financial support should the situation arise.
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