Gondola tower may move: Taipei mayor

It’s not contradictory, because the mayor wants to wait until after four colleges of engineers makes public a final assessment report on December 12.

Hau took the wait-and-see decision after an earthquake, measuring six on the Richter scale, hit eastern Taiwan at 11:17 a.m.

Its magnitude was only one in Taipei, but municipal government engineers made an on-the-spot inspection of the tower, whose base was washed bare when Typhoon Changmi hit last September 28.

Maokong Gondola, Taipei’s top tourist attraction, has remained idle since October 1.

The mayor was non-committal when the colleges of engineers made an initial report, recommending strongly the tower, built on the weakened bedrock, be relocated.

“We’ll be looking for a new place for the weakened tower, while continuing to reinforce it,” Hau said. A final decision will be taken after a thorough study of the December 12 report.

But the cables and the steel pillars are being removed from the tower to make sure they won’t fall in another earthquake to hit the Chengchi University Garden estate directly below it, Hau said.

The estate was swamped by rock and mud as the tropical rainstorm hit Taipei. No causalities were reported.

Democratic Progressive Party city councilors are calling President Ma Ying-jeou into account, because he decided to change the Maokong Gondola route while he was mayor of Taipei.

Hau exonerated Ma Monday by insisting that the mayor could not dictate the route for the cable car system. “Ma Ying-jeou was not responsible,” he told a press conference.

Four DPP Taipei council members filed complaints with the Control Yuan earlier in the morning. They met Hung Teh-hsuan, the ombudsman on duty, and demanded the nation’s top watchdog body investigate Ma and Hau.

“They paid no heed to the recommendations of experts, who favored the Maokong Gondola route from the other side of the hill,” the DPP councilors complained. “They ignored the safety of the people,” they charged.

Ma changed the route despite opposition from Muzha residents in the neighborhood of the famous Temple of Thousand Steps.

Taipei district prosecutors said they are investigating the Maokong Gondola case. “We started looking into the case following complaints from Taipei residents in early last month,” a spokesman said.

Should Hau opt for the relocation, Maokong Gondola would not be reopened in at least two years. The relocation is expected to cost NT$200 million.

As the case now stands, Hau will most likely have the tower relocated.

He said he had consulted President Ma on the cable car service, which is owned and operated by the municipal government. “The President is concerned about the service,” he added.

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