Kinmen Bridge


The Kinmen Bridge is a cross-sea bridge currently under construction in Kinmen, Taiwan. Once finished, it will connect 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 of the Republic of China. On 9 January 2011, President Ma Ying-jeou traveled to Kinmen to host the groundbreaking ceremony. The bridge construction commenced in 2013. But, on 29 June 2016, the construction work was suspended when the Government of the Republic of China terminated the contract with Kuo Teng Construction Co., the construction company who had been building the bridge, due to the poor construction management which had caused the project to be seriously behind schedule.
During Augusts 2016, the Taiwan Area National Expressway Engineering Bureau 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 now is expected to be completed by 25 September 2020. However in February 2017, Public Construction Commission Minister Wu Hong-mo had 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 the bridge is expected to be completed by mid 2021.

Architecture

The bridge will link Jinning Township on Greater Kinmen Island and Lieyu Township on Lieyu Island. It will span over 5.4 km in length and supported by five towers, each with separation distance of 280 meters. The bridge surface will have a width of 15 meters, which will consist of two lanes for vehicles, one lane for pedestrian and one lane for bicycle.

Budget

A total of NT$7.39 billion was originally budgeted for the bridge construction, in which NT$3.96 billion came from the central government and NT$3.43 came from Kinmen County Government. 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.