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 Vol. 39 Winter 2006 |
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This year will mark 107 years since the opening of Kajima's district office in Taiwan. Kajima has a dual business structure in Taiwan, built around our local subsidiary Chung- Lu Construction Co., Ltd., and the Taiwan District Office. Chung-Lu Construction mainly handles private construction projects, while the Taiwan District Office is in charge of large-scale civil engineering projects often subject to international bidding. Kajima has been involved in numerous infrastructure construction projects in all areas of Taiwan, and has worked for the development of local society. In this issue, we introduce some of the recent, representative projects being undertaken to develop urban areas of Taiwan. |
| The Kaohsiung Subway: One of the World's Largest Circular, Continuous Walls Taiwan's second-largest city of Kaohsiung is one of the world's leading port cities, forming one of the economy's major industrial areas. Two subway lines to serve the area--the north-south Red Line and east-west Orange Line--are currently under construction, and operations are planned for launch in fiscal 2007. For the construction of the Kaohsiung subway, Kajima proposed a circular continuous wall construction method for the Formosa Boulevard station, where the two lines intersect. This plan involves using the shape of the intersection to construct one of the world's largest circular, continuous walls, with an inside diameter of 140 meters (460 feet), and with other structures built inside of it. This is the first intersection in a major city for which this method has been adopted. In addition to the Formosa Boulevard project, a joint venture company is constructing an open-cut tunnel and shield tunnel along sections of the Orange and Red lines that extend out from the circular station. The drilling has now been completed, and the structural elements are being put in place. |
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| The Taiwan High Speed Rail Depot: Yenchao Main Workshop The Taiwan High Speed Rail, linking Taipei and Kaohsiung (345 kilometers, or 214 miles) in as little as 90 minutes, will begin operations soon. The main depot for the line was completed in an area approximately 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) north of Kaohsiung, a suburban area surrounded by sugarcane fields. |
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The construction of the Taiwan High Speed Rail that uses the high-speed rail system of Japan's Shinkansen was plagued by bumps and detours, such as the shift from the EU style of train used in France and Germany to the Japanese Shinkansen system. Groundbreaking for the switchyard was delayed by a full year, with the Taiwanese authorities wanting to house trains in the building within one year, making for an extremely short construction period. The largest section, the train maintenance yard, is 140 meters (460 feet) wide and 350 meters (1,150 feet) long, with a total floor space of 54,200 square meters (595,000 square feet). For a massive switchyard such as this, Kajima completed the foundation in four months, and for the last month worked around the clock to finish on time. The new rail line has made it easier to travel to the cities of western Taiwan, and substantially improved the convenience of pleasure and business travel. |
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| Hung Sheng Tiipao Condominium: The Most Luxurious Condominium in Taiwan Renai Road is considered to be the most beautiful in all of Taipei. Kajima has completed a luxury condominium considered to be the finest in Taiwan, a city with numerous prime residential districts where government officials and other VIPs come and go, located between the Taipei and national government offices. The structure consists of six high-rise towers, two each that are 18 stories, 23 stories and 28 stories tall, facing each other to right and left, and surrounding a low-rise "club building." The building incorporates elements of the traditional Chinese tradition of feng shui, and is positioned to suggest an image of the throne of the Chinese emperors, where fame, fortune and virtue converge. The largest earthquake in Taiwan's history, with a magnitude of 7.6, struck central Taiwan in 1999, causing a significant number of casualties. Drawing on the lessons of this event, more earthquake-resistant buildings have been constructed. This condominium contains a total of 608 seismic control devices installed along the support pillars and beams of each tower. Exterior walls of stone and marble floors provide a luxurious feel to the building. All of the towers are designed with one unit per floor, with each unit offering floor space of 500 to 800 square meters (5,500 to 8,800 square feet). The units are purchased as skeletons, so that the interior construction can be completed according to each buyer's style and preference. This is definitely the birth of a high-grade, luxury residence. |
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| The Toppan CFI (Taiwan) Factory: Support for High-Tech Industry During the 1990s, Taiwan was known as the "Silicon Valley of Asia" due to the concentration of production facilities for computer parts and other components, but in recent years production has shifted to such high techindustries as semiconductors and liquid crystal displays (LCDs). Toppan Printing Co., Ltd., which holds approximately half of the global share of the external sales market for color filters, has jointly established Toppan CFI (Taiwan) Co., Ltd. with the Corporation Group and other companies. This new company planned to build one of the world's largest color filter manufacturing plants in the Tainan Technology Industrial Park in the outskirts of the city of Tainan, which Kajima completed in May of last year. Kajima has been involved in the construction of numerous other production plants, providing support for the increasingly fierce competition between Japanese companies, whose emergence in the region has been remarkable, and that of local corporations. Taiwan has deep-rooted ties with Japan in Asia. Younger Taiwanese are interested in Japanese trends and other cultural aspects. Kajima will continue to support the remarkable development of Taiwan through a variety of infrastructure projects. |
 Vol. 39 Winter 2006
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