Tiger,
I’m saying it takes two to tango. MATRA of course would likely say they faced the final humiliation when they got booted out after falking out somuch money in corruption.
[quote=“Fox”]Tiger,
I’m saying it takes two to tango. MATRA of course would likely say they faced the final humiliation when they got booted out after falking out somuch money in corruption.[/quote]
That’s not how I understood the problem.
The problem was corrupt construction practices and substandard and delayed work by the local companies, not by Matra.
Tiger,
Your recollection is pretty much as I remember it too. MATRA was badly burnt in Taiwan. All the same, I believe Chen’s attempt to dissasociate Taipei City Government from MATRA was an attempt to put an end to the corruption that was plaguing the MRT construction projects. It was, however, a very unfortunate and costly business for MATRA.
I also have some concerns over the way Chen handled that issue. It seemed to me to have a bad smell about it. His approach was probably less than admirable, but on the other hand the government had to stop paying out money for that project at some point. MATRA was more a victim of the Taipei City Government at the time of construction than it was under Chen; however, that said it was a pretty sorry outcome for them.
Matra had never built a VAL project outside of France when they bid for the project, nor had they ever attempted to construct this type of system in a congested urban environment. The only VAL systems that existed before the Muzha line were two-car configurations in Orly airport and Lille. Up until two years ago, Taipei had the second longest VAL line in the world. That’s not really saying much however, since Matra only managed to sell the Bricklin of light-rail to three clients - Taipei, Lille, and Toulouse.
Thanks Chung… The rest of my knowledge was correct?
I would be more worried about the KMT selling out to China. After all, it’s the DPP which is pro-independence. The KMT’s basic premise has been that they will invade the mainland and shoot all the communists, right? Yet they wasted time until there was no way to do it.
So, what now? “One China”? Ok, the KMT uppercrust gets cushy “village manager” positions, and everyone gets f*cked paying taxes to Beijing. The KMT retains a fiction of power, and the rest of the population can go to hell.
Or am I just being cynical?
MaPoDurian,
That’s what I think too. The rolling back of democracy will be the beginning of that process.
I don’t know! I’ve always wondered how the Matra contract fit in with the other corrupt scams of the time. Was there any link between the Matra MRT deal and the French sale of mirage fighter jets? Matra had never built a four-car system, so it seems rather odd that they were even considered for the project. Moreover, financially they were a run-away train - no orders on the books and on verge of bankruptcy. To my mind, the mess has the smell of another case of corrupt government procurement, not unlike the South African push-pull locomotives or the Hungarian buses. I don’t view Matra as a victim, they knew from the start it was going to be a bumpy ride.