The Taiwan government has said it hopes to import 200 foreign workers to help speed up construction on the 12.9km long Shueishan Tunnel (T&TI, April 2004, p11), part of the Peiyi Freeway Project to link Taipei to Ilan.
On 17 March, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) said the extra workers were needed to ensure completion by the end of this year as scheduled. A representative of the MOTC said that local people are reluctant to work on the project due to the tough working conditions, “we have long faced a serious labour shortage problem”.
A year ago in March 2004, the final round was blasted to hole through the 12.9km long tunnel, also called Hsuehshan (Snow Mountain). After an epic 13 years of construction punctuated by 19 floods and 29 face collapses, it had become known as a “tunnel beneath troubled waters”.
The tunnel is claimed to be the fifth longest in the world and the longest in southeast Asia. Besides the main twin tube tunnel, the scheme includes a total of 55 tunnels when the cross passages and ancillary tunnels are considered.
The MOTC hopes the Council of Labor Affairs will allow the extra workers on a case by case basis. Due to the difficulties experienced, no insurance company has been willing to provide safety coverage for the project according to a Taiwan government website.
