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

  • Urban gridlock for UK capital?
    March 8, 2017
    The UK’s capital London suffers from some of the worst traffic congestion in Europe, with only Moscow registering far worse conditions on a regular basis. Traffic speeds along key routes in the centre of the city have long had a reputation for being low but recent research shows that they have fallen yet again. According to Transport for London (TfL), average traffic speeds in the centre of the city are just 12.5km/h, roughly the same as they were in the 19th century when the majority of road traffic was ho
  • Urban gridlock for UK capital?
    March 8, 2017
    The UK’s capital London suffers from some of the worst traffic congestion in Europe, with only Moscow registering far worse conditions on a regular basis. Traffic speeds along key routes in the centre of the city have long had a reputation for being low but recent research shows that they have fallen yet again. According to Transport for London (TfL), average traffic speeds in the centre of the city are just 12.5km/h, roughly the same as they were in the 19th century when the majority of road traffic was ho
  • Minimising the problems of construction disputes
    September 30, 2013
    *Nigel Grout discusses methods for minimising the risk of potential legal issues in construction projects Disputes and the construction industry are synonymous with each other. In a climate of economic downturn, the prevalence of major disputes will continue to be high as parties are unwilling or not able to compromise to reach a settlement. According to the latest ‘Global Construction Disputes’ report by EC Harris, the global average value of a construction dispute in 2012 was nearly US$32 million.
  • UK contractors group CECA says infrastructure workload dips
    November 11, 2015
    Britain’s Civil Engineering Contractors Association has warned of declining infrastructure workloads despite indications that the UK is climbing slowly out of the global economic downturn. The slump in infrastructure workloads is a “surprise”, according to a statement by the CECA. The CECA survey of companies that build and maintain the UK’s vital transport and power networks also comes just as the government launched the National Infrastructure Commission to oversee more than €140 billion of spending o