Construction of the US$5.28bn Kaohsiung metro, in Taiwan, is hanging in the balance following a series of cave-ins and other incidents (T&TI August, p5). Speaking after the latest incident in early August, Kaohsiung city mayor Frank Hsieh said: “Evaluation must be done to see if the geological problems can be overcome. If not, then we’ll see if the project should be halted.”
Four families had to be evacuated in early August just before a three-storey building collapsed close to tunnelling works. There have also been three other major cave-ins in the past year.
Main contractor on the two-line 42km system is a group led by China Steel, which was awarded its concession in 2000. Other firms in the venture include Siemens of Germany, BES Engineering, RetSer Engineering and China Development Bank Taisei Corporation, Kumagai Gumi and Kajima Corporation, all of Japan, and Ed Zublin of Germany.
