Skip to main content

Taiwan bureau threatens Kuo Teng over its Kinmen Bridge work

Taiwan’s National Expressway Engineering Bureau said it would terminate its contract with Kuo Teng Construction company because of issues over the construction schedule of Kinmen Bridge. Work on the bridge connecting the main island of Greater Kinmen and Lieyu, also known as Little Kinmen, began in 2013 after it had been a campaign promise in five presidential elections. The bureau recently said that work on the bridge was nearly 19% behind schedule and reportedly gave the company 30 days to bring the pro
June 2, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Taiwan’s National Expressway Engineering Bureau said it would terminate its contract with Kuo Teng Construction company because of issues over the construction schedule of Kinmen Bridge.

Work on the bridge connecting the main island of Greater Kinmen and Lieyu, also known as Little Kinmen, began in 2013 after it had been a campaign promise in five presidential elections.

The bureau recently said that work on the bridge was nearly 19% behind schedule and reportedly gave the company 30 days to bring the project back on schedule.

The Taipei Times reported that it could lead to a change of contractor for a third time.

Kuo Teng Construction has also been told to increase the number of workers, speed up material delivery to the site and to use more efficient equipment.

“The contractor failed to bring in partners that were equipped with better machinery for the project, even though it was facing a shortage of workers and construction materials and clearly lacks the ability to handle the project on its own,” the bureau said in a statement. “The contractor had fallen behind the construction schedule by 16%...which shows that it has neither the ambition nor the determination to expedite the progress of the work.”

The Times also reported that the bureau had informed Kuo Teng Construction in February that delays to the bridge’s construction meant the firm was barred from bidding for government projects for one year.

Public construction commission minister Wu Hong-mo was reported saying most government agencies prefer to choose the bidders that offer the cheapest packages, fearing criticism that otherwise they would be wasting taxpayers’ money.

Wu said his top priority is to make sure government workers are not afraid to hire firms that present the most comprehensive bids, adding that the commission would lay out the types of projects to which this bidding method applies.

Related Content

  • Serbia’s pan-European Corridor X is in the slow lane
    October 23, 2017
    It’s been slow progress on Serbia’s Corridor X project. Gordon Feller reports. Back in the early 2000’s, the European Union undertook an ambitious programme to link the main cities of its south-eastern region. This involved connecting five key seaports – the Greek cities of Patras, Igoumenitsa, Piraeus and Thessaloniki as well as Romania’s Black Sea city of Constanta. Initially the plan involved two motorways across Greece. The first was a new 780km route including a branch to Ormenio on Greece’s north-eas
  • FIEC calls for action on construction
    March 24, 2020
    The European construction association, FIEC, calls for action on construction.
  • Bridge formwork solutions complete big bridge picture
    July 2, 2014
    Advanced bridge formwork solutions are allowing contractors to complete vital major highway infrastructure projects covering Norway, Sweden, Estonia and Poland. Guy Woodford reports Building the Labbdalen bridges in Norway is a key feature of the E6 highway improvement programme. Main project contractor HÆHRE tasked RMD Kwikform and Teknikk with supplying a complete formwork and shoring solution that could tackle the challenging Norwegian terrain, whilst preserving the environment. Situated two hours
  • Property issues holding back start of work on Gordie Howe Bridge
    July 19, 2016
    Delays in buying properties in Detroit, Michigan, could hold up construction of the proposed 3.2km Gordie Howe International Bridge that will link the US city to Windsor in Canada. A report by the Detroit Free press said that around 30 of the estimated 900 parcels of land in the city’s Delray district could pose potential problems if owners resist selling the sites to the bridge’s developers. The newspaper noted that Dwight Duncan, interim chair of the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority - the Canadian e