Tainan Flood Control Project Collapses in 19 Days Despite NT$1 Billion Cost

Tainan Flood Control Project Cost NT$1 Billion, Used Garbage as Soil and Gravel

　　NT$1 Billion Spent but No Flood Control Capability

　　"This is equivalent to using garbage as stones." The Gangwei Creek flood diversion channel project cost NT$1.01 billion. The sixth work section collapsed and revealed its true nature just 19 days after completion and opening. Tainan District Prosecutors Office prosecutor Zhou Mengxiang ordered excavation of the flood control roads on both sides of the embankment and found that the soil under 400 meters of asphalt road on each side was filled with construction waste as a substitute for graded aggregate, involving substandard materials.
Tainan Prosecutors Office spokesperson and chief prosecutor Cai Liyi stated that the contractor Songhua Construction used 1,266 cubic meters of crushed construction waste mixed as gravel graded aggregate to fill the flood control road on the embankment, resulting in insufficient support strength, causing uneven settlement and damage to the asphalt, which in turn affected the bearing capacity of the flood diversion channel's sheet piles, and it is suspected that this caused the collapse of the flood diversion channel's embankment.

Tainan Flood Control Project Collapses

　　Songhua Construction Used Substandard Materials
On the 27th, Tainan District Prosecutors Office prosecutor Zhou Mengxiang directed searches of Songhua Construction Company, the Taipei head office and Kaohsiung branch of AECOM (design and supervision), and the Sixth River Management Office, four locations in total, and brought back eight people for questioning.
Prosecutors found that Songhua Construction was suspected of using substandard materials in the graded aggregate for the flood control road. Chen Zhineng and Chen Jianlong signed "qualified" on the inspection summary and construction logs, and Ling Guohua then filled in qualified sampling records, later fraudulently claiming NT$1.5 million from the Sixth River Management Office for gravel graded aggregate costs.

Tainan

　　Three Suspects Confess in Court and Are Released on Bail
Prosecutor Zhou Mengxiang considered that Ling Guohua was suspected of the crime of false business records and ordered him to be released on NT$100,000 bail pending trial. Chen Zhineng and Chen Jianlong were suspected of fraud and false business records. The prosecutor arrested them in court and sought detention from the Tainan District Court. The two defendants confessed in court, and the judge ruled that each be released on NT$300,000 bail.
Songhua Construction Company was still operating normally on the 29th, but the person in charge, former "legislator" Chen Jiansong, and his younger brother Chen Jianhua were not at the company. Employees said that the two had not been to the company for several days since the incident and were probably busy handling related matters outside.
Local figures said that Chen Jiansong had served as mayor of Shuilin Township in Yunlin County and as a "legislator," and Chen Jianhua had served as a county councilor. After Chen Jiansong failed in his re-election bid for "legislator," he faded from politics and devoted himself to the construction business, contracting multiple water conservancy facility projects and enjoying a good local reputation. It was unexpected that he would be involved in a construction scandal.