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TSU lawmaker demands investigation into project scandal
(China Post Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)Lawmaker Laio Pen-yen of the opposition Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) yesterday called for probes into the irregularities surrounding the vibration reduction engineering project in Southern Taiwan Science Park.
Liao told a press conference that the National Science Council (NSC) might have been overcharged by over NT$2.5 billion for the vibration reduction engineering project, as the costs for vibration reducing devices and the continuous wall engineering were four to five times the market levels.
Liao claimed there are behind-the-scene masterminds for the scandal, yet having nothing to do with the Presidential Office. He added that he knew who the masterminds were.
In response to the suspicion of Lawmaker Liao, Vice Chairman Hsieh Ching-chih of NSC said that his council would demand back what's overcharged even if it were just one cent.
Hsieh also said it's totally impossible to lower the noise level to below 48 decibels in Southern Taiwan Science Park, where a vibration-reduction engineering project has become a controversial issue.
He said even without the noise from high-speed trains running through the park, its background noise was already at the 50-52 decibel level.
He claimed that from the very outset, it was a "mission impossible" when the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) and the NCS discussed the target of reducing the noise level to under 48 decibels.
Therefore, he added, it was not an issue that the NSC allowed a private contractor to try to complete that impossible mission, since the project was aimed merely at "reducing" the vibration or noise level -- or improving it.
Hsieh made the remarks in response to speculations that irregularities may have occurred during the process of selecting the project's winning contractor.
For example, in an area 200 meters from the high-speed railway, Hung Hua Technology Engineering Co. has managed to bring down the noise level from 60db to 50db, which is quite an improvement, he said.
When high-tech companies set up their own production lines, they will install their own facilities so that manufacturing sites would have a noise level as low as 30db or 20db, he added.
Meanwhile, Lawmaker Lee Chi-chu of the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) quoted an April 6 administrative court ruling as saying the NSC went ahead to determine a winning contractor although none of the bidding companies had presented a proposal meeting the NCS's own requirements.
She said the NCS will have to explain why it decided to waste taxpayers' money to build a "vibration reduction" wall which it knew well would not work.
Hsieh and other officials, including those at the science park, will attend a legislative committee meeting to face lawmakers' interpellations today.
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