The Kinmen Bridge () is a cross-sea

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

Kinmen Kinmen, alternatively known as Quemoy, is a group of islands governed as a county by the Republic of China (Taiwan), only east from the city of Xiamen in Fujian, located at the southeastern coast of the People's Republic of China, from wh ...

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. It connects Greater Kinmen Island and Lieyu Island.

History

On 28 February 2010, this project of constructing the bridge was approved by

Council for Economic Planning and Development A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

of the

. On 9 January 2011, President

Ma Ying-jeou Ma Ying-jeou ( zh, t=馬英九; pinyin: ''Mǎ Yīngjiǔ''; ; born 13 July 1950) is a Taiwanese politician, lawyer, and legal scholar who served as the sixth president of the Republic of China from 2008 to 2016. A member of the Kuomintang (KMT ...

traveled to Kinmen to host the groundbreaking ceremony. The bridge construction commenced in 2013. However, on 29 June 2016, the construction work was suspended when the

Government of the Republic of China The Government of the Republic of China is the central government, national authority whose actual-controlled territory consists of Taiwan (island), main island of Taiwan (Formosa), Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu Islands, Matsu, and list of islands of ...

terminated the contract with Kuo Teng Construction Co. (the construction company which had been building the bridge), due to the poor

construction management Construction management (CM) aims to control the quality of a construction project's scope, time, and cost (sometimes referred to as a project management triangle or "triple constraints") to maximize the project owner's satisfaction. It uses pro ...

that had caused the project to be seriously behind schedule. During August 2016, the

Taiwan Area National Expressway Engineering Bureau The Taiwan Area National Expressway Engineering Bureau (TANEEB; ) was the organization under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications of the Republic of China in charge for the planning, land acquisition, bidding and construction of n ...

invited new contractor companies to complete the remaining project. The bureau announced the tender winner on 31 August 2016. Work resumed on 28 December 2016 and was at that point expected to be completed by 25 September 2020. However, in February 2017,

Public Construction Commission The Public Construction Commission (PCC; ) is an independent government agency of the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China (Taiwan) which is responsible for planning, reviewing, coordination, and supervision of public construction projects such ...

Minister Wu Hong-mo requested the bridge completion date to be moved earlier to the end of 2019. In August 2019, the last pile of the bridge was installed and was expected to be completed by mid-2021. The Kinmen Bridge was opened to the public on 30 October 2022.

Architecture

The bridge links

Jinning Township Jinning District () is one of seven districts of the prefecture-level city of Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, Southwest China. The formation of the district was approved on November 24, 2016, after the dissolution of the former ''Jinni ...

on Greater Kinmen Island and

Lieyu Township Lieyu Township (Liehyu) (; pinyin: ''Lièyǔ Xiāng''; Hokkien Pe̍h-ōe-jī, POJ: ''Lia̍t-sū-hiong'') is a Township (Taiwan), rural township in Kinmen, Kinmen County (Quemoy), Fujian Province, Republic of China, Fujian Province, Taiwan, Republi ...

on Lieyu Island. It spans over in length and is supported by five towers separated apart. The bridge surface is wide, and consists of two lanes for vehicles, one lane for pedestrians, and one lane for bicycles.

Budget

A total of NT$7.39 billion was originally budgeted for the bridge construction, of which NT$3.96 billion came from the

central government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or deleg ...

and NT$3.43 billion came from

Kinmen County Government The Kinmen County Government () is the local government of the Republic of China that governs Kinmen County. Organizational structures Bureau * Civil Affairs Bureau * Finance Bureau * Education Bureau * Economic Development Bureau * Public W ...

. After repeated delays, the budget blew out to about NT$9 billion. Performance bond from Kuo Teng Construction Co. was taken to cover the extra cost incurred. However, there is still a shortfall of NT$500 million.

References

{{commons category Bridges in Taiwan Bridges in Fujian Buildings and structures under construction in Taiwan Jinning Township Lieyu Township Transportation in Kinmen County

History

Architecture

Budget

See also

References