Time: April 8, 2022, 09:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
Venue: Conference Room 101, Tainan Anping Water Resources Recycling Center
Moderator: Director-General Han Rong-hwa, WRB
Attending Units and Personnel:
Chen Pei-chi, Chief of Corruption Prevention Section, AAC, Ministry of Justice; Prosecutor Tsai Bai-da, Taiwan Tainan District Prosecutor's Office; Director Wu Chia-ling, Civil Service Ethics Office; Weng Kuo-ming, Senior Executive Officer, Civil Service Ethics Office, Tainan City Government; Yeh Sheng-wen, Acting Section Chief, Civil Service Ethics Office, Tainan City Government; Liu Yu-hua, section member, Civil Service Ethics Office, Tainan City Government; Han Rong-hwa, Director-General of the WRB, Chan Yi-chin, Deputy Director-General of the WRB; Huang Yao-chang, Director of the Civil Service Ethics Office; Huang Wei-tun of the Civil Service Ethics Office; Tsai Kuo-chuan, Chief Secretary; Shi Kuo-hung, Section Chief of the Sewage Maintenance Engineering Section; Chan Shih-shuo, Deputy Engineer of the Sewage Maintenance Engineering Section; Cheng Ying-ming, Chief Engineer of the New Sewage Engineering Section; Chang Ching-hao, Deputy Engineer of the New Sewage Engineering Section; representatives from HDEC Corporation; representatives from Stantec Taiwan; and representatives from AECOM Taiwan.
I. Address from the moderator:
Good day, dignitaries and colleagues. We are fortunate to have received the honor of being awarded the “Transparent and Crystal Quality Awards” by the Against Corruption, Ministry of Justice (AAC) last year, and we are grateful not only for the recognition of AAC, but also for the concerted efforts of all supervisors and colleagues. Today, we also take the opportunity of this meeting to discuss the current difficulties and issues facing the operation of the Integrity Platform, and to remind the relevant risks and provide the legal concept of procurement cases and the matters that should be noted and prevented in practice.
II. Construction Progress Report (omitted - as detailed in the meeting materials)
III. Opinions and Feedback
1. Issue 1
Chair:
The Civil Service Ethics Office is requested to continue to plan and hold related lectures, and to invite experts and scholars in engineering, information safety, and occupational safety fields to attend the meetings according to the needs of the projects as suggested by the presiding prosecutor.
2. Issue 2
Chair:
Since this project involves the water end and the water supply end, and the contract shall be executed for a period of 15 years, the contractual obligations are relatively important. Therefore, in the process of planning and drafting the contract, the WRB has asked the Department of Legal Affairs and the Civil Service Ethics Office of the Tainan City Government to deliver professional advice on the relationship between rights and obligations. I would like to thank the Civil Service Ethics Office for their assistance and help.
3. Issue 3
Chair:
According to the plan of Southern Taiwan Science Park Administration, the operator must supply reclaimed water 24 hours a day. If it is confirmed that the operator is the cause of the failure to provide normal water supply, the current emergency handling method will first ask the STSP Administration to urgently ask Taiwan Water Company to provide emergency water supply and request the operator to restore the normal water supply as soon as possible. The WRB will then impose penalties on the operator according to the contract. Since the contracting process of this project includes construction and operation phases, the project management company is requested to provide timely advice according to the progress of the project, and the Civil Service Ethics Office is also requested to pay attention to the relevant reminders.
4. Issue 4
Chair:
During the construction process, we have received many complaints and questions about the impact on the structural safety of nearby residences as well as environmental conservation concerns. Please follow up on the facts of the dispute and the evidence provided by the contractor, and review and grant the contractor a reasonable extension for construction time.
IV. Supervisory Guidance
1. Chen Pei-chi, Chief of Corruption Prevention Section, AAC, Ministry of Justice;
(1) The “Tamkang Bridge Integrity Exchange Platform” of the MOTC uses CCTV to upload the construction progress in real-time, allowing the public to participate in the supervision of the project, which has received a positive response from the public. The above approach can be taken into account for future major projects.
(2) Please continue to strengthen the promotion of ethical standards of integrity to all colleagues and contractors. Information that affects the rights of the public or issues of concern is posted on the Integrity Platform website in a timely manner to provide a channel for the public to inquire or learn more about the project.
(3) For the bidding or investment process, in the event of any doubts, the responsible agency and post clarifications on the Integrity Platform website, so that external parties can review and understand the relevant administrative process of openness and transparency.
2. Tsi Bai-da, Prosecutor, Taiwan Tainan District Prosecutors Office
The Integrity Platform is an important policy of the AAC. In January of this year, our ranking in the Corruption Perception Index climbed to 25, thanks to the results achieved through the concerted efforts of the public and private sectors. Please pay attention during the construction process to avoid inadvertent leakage of the personal information of the petitioner. The project acceptance process should be thorough, and the inspection of the attached receipts or photos should be strengthened during the verification process. In addition, there have been frequent reports of industrial safety incidents recently, so please strengthen the regulations of the relevant occupational safety and health laws to avoid occupational safety accidents.
V. Conclusions
Regarding the promotion of the bilingualization of the Integrity Platform website, the WRB is currently working on the English translation of the website and expects to complete the English translation by the end of June. If you have any other suggestions for improving the Integrity Platform, please feel free to share your feedback and suggestions. Once again, I would like to thank Chen Pei-chi, Chief of Corruption Prevention Section, AAC, and Prosecutor Tsi Bai-da of the Taiwan Tainan District Prosecutors Office, as well as the Civil Service Ethics Office for your participation and guidance. The implementation of the Integrity Platform has not only won the WRB widespread recognition with the “Transparent and Crystal Quality Awards”, but also effectively boosted public confidence in the WRB by taking the initiative to publicly disclose relevant project information, and reduced undue interference from people with ulterior motives. In the future, the Bureau will take into account the relevant recommendations and review and discuss the implementation of the WRB's water reclamation projects.
VI. Adjournment (10:30 a.m. on the same day)