New Taipei vows action against contractor over 3-day water outage

New Taipei, Dec. 1 (CNA) New Taipei Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜) on Monday said the city will hold the contractor behind a Tamsui District road project accountable after a burst pipe left roughly 62,000 households without running water for more than three days.

Speaking to reporters at a New Taipei event, Hou said a special service window has been set up to handle problems stemming from the incident, and that basic water fees will be reduced or waived.

Hou said the city aims to reconnect the remaining 20 percent of affected households by the end of Monday, and will ensure the contractor takes responsibility for the disruption.

According to the city government, Taiwan Water Corp. will reduce bills proportionally based on the actual number of days households were without water.

A service desk at the Tamsui District Office was also set up Monday to handle residents' complaints over the next three days, the city said, adding that it will hold the consulting firm and contractor accountable under their contracts, including by imposing fines.

The Danbei Road project is a new road under construction in Tamsui designed to alleviate chronic traffic congestion between the district and Taipei. It consists of a 5.45-kilometer elevated and ground-level four-lane expressway running along the Tamsui River.