View Single Post
  #143  
Old Posted Oct 14, 2014, 2:00 PM
williamchung taiwan's Avatar
williamchung taiwan williamchung taiwan is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 3,356
Taipei City government to build twin towers on its own2014/10/14 18:32:11

Taipei, Oct. 14 (CNA) Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin said that the Taipei City Government will carry out the scandal-plagued Taipei Twin Towers project on its own instead of contracting the project to any property developer.

BES Engineering Corp. has lost its qualifications to work on the project because it failed to pay fees and submit required documents after being awarded the project last year, Hau said.

BES is the second contractor to be awarded the project only to lose it. The first-place bidder, a consortium led by Taipei Gateway International Development Co., withdrew after accusations of corruption in the bidding process.

As the city government does not accept the terms offered by a third bidder, according to Hau, it will undertake the project on its own through the municipal Department of Rapid Transit.

The project calls for two new towers in the aging western part of Taipei that will link railway and subway lines to bus terminals and serve as the hub for the metro line to Taoyuan International Airport, Taiwan's major gateway, which is set to open in late 2015.

With one tower rising 56 floors and a height of 243 and the other 76 floors and a height of 322 meters, the buildings are expected to cost more than NT$60 billion (US$1.97 billion).

Calling the project important to Taipei's development, Hau said the city is eager to complete the project in the next 5-6 years.

The decision to hand it to municipal rapid transit authorities follows five unsuccessful bidding processes and, Hau said, will guarantee the quality of the towers' construction.

Tsai Hui-sheng, director of the Department of Rapid Transit Systems, said his department has about NT$30 billion in a development fund and is open to the idea of letting investors join the project.

Sinyi Realty Inc., one of Taiwan's leading property sales agencies, said that the decision by the city will be in the public's interest as such a large-scale project needs leadership from the government.

(By Huang Li-yuan, Wei Shu and Frances Huang)
enditem/WH

http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aeco/201410140028.aspx
Reply With Quote