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To : 技師
National projects lack checks and balances
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Aug 25, 2014
By Johnson Kung 拱祥生
On Aug. 17, concrete piles supporting an open flood-diversion channel in Greater Tainan collapsed. The channel was part of a flood-control project that had only just been tested and approved for operation.
The public find it hard to accept the repeated failures that have happened with public works, which often cost hundreds of millions of New Taiwan dollars, and people are left wondering whether engineers are really doing an honest job. While it is important to consider such incidents from professional and technical points of view, the crucial problem lies in the institutional aspect of civil engineering in the nation.
Following the drain collapse and resulting flood, I visited the area and found the key causative factor to be that different materials had been used to construct the channel bottom on either side of where a concrete box culvert connects to the open channel.
Floodwater had scoured soil out from the foundation of the open channel, causing it to collapse. Consequently, people have described the project as being “made of tofu dregs,” or jerry-built.
For civil engineers, the lesson to be learned is that the connection between different parts of a flood-prevention system is a key point in its design. However, what the public is asking is whether such a failure could have been foreseen and prevented. Lengthy commentaries preaching wisdom after the event will not dispel the doubts.
If only lawmakers had enacted the draft civil engineering law that has been languishing in the legislature for years, this regrettable incident might well have been avoided, and the engineers who worked on the project might not now be the objects of public scorn.
One of the essential points of the proposed law is to subject public construction to a system of rigorous reviews and permits, just as ordinary buildings require construction and usage licenses. This would cut down on design risks, as experts would assess projects before they are built.
Currently, when the design stage of public construction projects is completed, it only has to go through a simple and brief review, at most, before being contracted out and built. It is no wonder, then, that design failures are so common.
Many years ago, design faults were found in the cap beams of Taipei’s first Metro line — the Muzha Line, which is now called the Wenshan-Neihu Line. A more recent example is the faults that were found in pile bases of the elevated part of the Sun Yat-sen Freeway (Freeway No. 1) between Wugu (五股) and Yangmei (楊梅). These and many other incidents highlight the grave consequences of not subjecting public engineering projects to rigorous reviews.
An even more serious problem is that the management of design drawings for public engineering projects, even those that cost huge amounts of money, is not legally regulated. As a result, over time, the plans are often lost. This stands in stark contrast to the management of building blueprints, which is fully regulated by an independent licensing system.
If a person wants to build a small farmhouse, they have to submit plans for review and have them put on file. Only then can they obtain a license to use the building. In contrast, public construction projects are in effect handled without any license, even though they have an immense impact on national development.
It is a fine example of the old adage that county leaders can set fires while ordinary people cannot even light a candle. If this situation continues, how can people be expected to support the government’s construction of such unlicensed “tofu” projects?
Johnson Kung is chairman of the Engineers Times, published by the Taiwan Professional Civil Engineers’ Association.
Translated by Julian Clegg
TAIPEI TIMES - 8月25日2014年
全文網址:http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2014/08/25/2003598197
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