US embassy cable - 05TAIPEI4815

UNCLAS TAIPEI 004815 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/RSP/TC 
DEPT PASS AIT/WASHINGTON 
 
FROM AIT KAOHSIUNG BRANCH OFFICE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EWWT, ETRD, ECON, TW, Trade, Transportation 
SUBJECT: KAOHSIUNG KMRT SUBWAY CONSTRUCTION SITE COLLAPSES 
AGAIN 
 
REF:  A) TAIPEI 4419, B) TAIPEI 4353 
 
1.  SUMMARY.  Beset by scandals involving foreign labor and 
shady financing, Kaohsiung's Mass Rapid Transit (KMRT) 
subway construction came to another standstill on December 
5, this time due to a major cave- in at one of the 
construction sites.  As with three previous cave-ins, this 
incident was caused by tunnelers hitting underground water. 
According to KMRT authorities this is the most serious 
incident to date.  While workers have stopped the flow of 
water, a major section of the roadway above the site remains 
closed.  An adjacent park and several buildings have also 
sustained damage.  No one was injured in the incident.  End 
Summary. 
 
2.  The roadway above the construction site of the KMRT 
Orange Line Station 07 collapsed on 5 December, despite 
twenty hours of frantic efforts by construction workers to 
stem the flow of underground water.  At 4 p.m. on December 
4, while digging a retention pond, workers hit an 
underground stream.  The water ruptured a 100-meter long 
section of the tunnel wall.  Workers immediately began 
attempts to stem the flow.  However, leakage continued and 
each time that workers thought the flow had been stopped, a 
new cave in occurred.  By early afternoon on the fifth, a 
ten-meter deep 50 by 30-meter pit had developed, consuming 
three lanes of Chung Cheng Road and a major portion of the 
adjacent park.  By the time the situation had been 
stabilized, more than 7,000 cubic meters of soil and gravel 
had poured into the hole. 
 
3.  In addition to disrupting road traffic, city officials 
have had to halt rail traffic in the area.  The rail line is 
adjacent to the park and about 50 meters away from the cave- 
in site.  Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corportation (KRTC) 
officials estimate that it will take seven to ten days to 
complete temporary repairs and reopen Chung Cheng Road, 
which is a key traffic artery in Kaohsiung City.  The rail 
service was interrupted as a safety precaution and will be 
resumed once safety officials certify that the ground under 
the railway is stable. 
 
4.    The cost to make final repairs to the site is 
estimated at NTD 500 million, roughly USD 15 million.  KRTC 
officials said that no human error was involved as they had 
done a geotechnical survey of the area and determined that 
underground water would not pose a problem.  However, the 
previous cave-ins also resulted from hitting underground 
water after geotechnical surveys had indicated that 
construction would not be adversely affected by underground 
water.  Two of the previous cave-ins were in the area of Red 
Line Station 01, close to Kaohsiung Harbor and the Love 
River.  The third was near Orange Line Station 08, also on 
Chung Cheng Road, about one kilometer from the site of the 
present incident. 
 
5.  The Kaohsiung City Council, which ordered a temporary 
halt to construction after the previous incidents, is 
currently meeting to discuss how to proceed in this case. 
There is growing concern that the subway will be unable to 
meet its scheduled 2007 completion date.  Presently, all 
work along Chung Cheng Road has ceased so that crews can be 
diverted to make emergency repairs. 
 
6.  Comment.  While KRTC officials assert that all necessary 
geotechnical surveys were done, they seem oblivious to the 
fact that the surveys have been consistently wrong.  There 
are several underground streams that wind through the 
construction area, posing a substantial risk to motorists 
and pedestrians using the temporary roadways above the 
construction sites.  While no one was injured in the present 
case, the situation would have been catastrophic had the 
incident occurred at rush hour rather than late on a Sunday 
evening.  End Comment. 
 
Thiele 
 
Keegan