New Construction Office

I.  Organizational Change

In response to the reorganization of Taipei City, on November 29, 1967, the New Construction Preparatory Office was established in Taipei City, Taiwan, at No. 113, Sec. 2, Chang'an East Road. In March 1968, the New Construction Office (NCO) was officially established and relocated to No. 8, Sec. 3, Jinang Road, Taipei City. The office is under the Public Works Department, and consists of five sections and four divisions: Road Section, Environmental Engineering Section, Construction Section, Public Works Section, Supply Section, Personnel Office, Accounting Office, Safety Office, and General Affairs Office. NCO is in charge of the design, procurement, contracting, construction, and supervision of roads, bridges, and buildings of Taipei City.

In 1973, the office was moved to No. 33, Section 2, Jinan Road, Taipei City. Then in 1982, it relocated to the 5th and 6th floor of the Gongguan Shui Yuan Market Building, and finally moved to the current Taipei City Hall Office Building in 1993. Up to date, it has undergone a total of 14 revisions to its organizational structure, which include the addition, deletion or adjustment of Traffic Engineering Section, Planning Section, Environmental Engineering Section, Supply Section and Road Section etc. The official structure consists of nine sections, one team, and five offices with more than 840 employees was formed in 2006, including Planning and Design Section, Electrical Engineering Section, Architectural Design Section, Public Work Section, Road Maintenance Section, Quality Control and Occupational Safety Section, Excavation Management Section, Maintenance Team, Engineering Support Section, Utilities Conduit Planning Section, Systems Administration Office, Administrative Services Office, Accounting Office, Personnel Office, and Government Ethics Office. The main tasks are to implement public works projects, and to conduct planning, investigation, design, construction, study and improvement of new roads, bridges, plazas and municipal buildings.

To build a smart city and implement the "Mayor Ko 's New Policy" Municipal White Paper, the "Taipei City Road Maintenance and Information Center" and the "Taipei City Pipeline Unified Excavation and Information Center" were merged into the "Taipei City Road Pipeline and Information Center" on January 30, 2015, and were officially established on July 1, 2015, in order to integrate road inspection and pipeline resources, to effectively deal with road defects and pipeline problems, to reduce excavation, to improve the cityscape and to improve the public pipeline database.

II. History

1. Pioneers of Transportation

The completion of the XinSheng Expressway in 1978 and the JianGuo North-South Expressway in 1981 marked a milestone in the expressway system of Taipei City. Following in succession, the New Construction Office completed the Guting Interchange, the Xinhai Road Elevated Highway, Huanhe North-South Expressway, the ShuiYuan Expressway, the Keelung Elevated Highway, Xinhai Road and Keelung Interchange, the East-West Expressway (Civic Boulevard), the Huantung Expressway, the Zhoumei Elevated Expressway, and the 2^nd Northern Highway Xinyi Branch Expressway. The entire expressway system of Taipei City is the outcome of the hard work and efforts of the New Construction Office's pioneers.

In recent years, with the advent of the e-Generation, there has been a change in lifestyle, population and traffic growth, some access roads and ramps are no longer suitable for the public. In order to improve the traffic in Taipei City, New Construction Office completed the demolition of the Zhongxiao Bridge access road, the addition of ramps to the Huazhong Bridge, and the widening of part of the ramp to the Jianguo Expressway so as to provide the public with good access to the city.

2.   Tunnels

Since 1970, the Xinhai Tunnel (South Tunnel No. 1), the Chuangjing Tunnel (South Tunnel No. 2), and the Zijiang Tunnel (North Tunnel No. 1) were built to serve the military functions of evacuation, shelter, and air defense, as well as the traffic planning functions of the Huaien Tunnel (South Tunnel No. 3), the Linsen South Road Underpass, the Jinlong Tunnel, the Keelung Road Underpass, the Songshan Airport Fuxing North Road Underpass, the Xinyi Branch Line Xiangshan Tunnel, the Wenshan Tunnel, and the Kong Le Tunnel. It is not difficult to see the evolution of tunneling technology over the past 40 years, and it is also evident that the New Construction Office had a national defense mission and responsibility in those years.

3.   Bridges

Starting with the construction of the Dazhi Bridge in 1969, the Nanhu Bridge, Fuhe Bridge, Yongfu Bridge(Fuhe II Bridge), Zhongxing Bridge, Minquan Bridge, Chung Yang Bridge, the single-arch double-decked MacArthur I Bridge, the double-arch double-decked Chenggong Bridge, the asymmetrically tilted Shezi Bridge, the Zhou Mei Bridge, Jing Mei Bridge, and Wenlin Bridge are all historical footprints that the New Construction Office has made step by step, and represent the epitome of modern bridge construction history. NCO is now actively working on the reconstruction of Chung Cheng Bridge and the widening of Cheng Kung Bridge.

4.   Common Duct Planning

In February 1991, the Utilities Conduit Planning Section was established, pioneering the installation of underground pipeline systems in the country. In 1992, the Department introduced the technology of utilities conduit construction, design, management, and information from Japan to effectively reduce the frequency of road excavation, reduce environmental pollution, and maintain the city's amenities.  Over the past 30 years, the Department has completed common pipeline facilities such as Civic Boulevard, Keelung River Cut and Straight, Nangang Economic and Trade Park, Zhoumei Expressway, Neihu Phase 5, Dadu Road, East Extension of the MTR, MRT Xinyi Line, Fuguo Road (Phase 1), MRT Songshan Line, and Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (Phase 1), and has implemented professional maintenance and introduced BIM facility management. In addition, the Department is still working on the construction of pipeline facilities to tie in with the MRT network and the section acquisition.

In addition to transportation infrastructure, construction projects are also a legacy of the New Construction Office, which is tasked with handling public buildings and construction projects commissioned by the government at all levels. From fire buildings, police buildings, branch office buildings, school activity centers, teaching buildings, parking lots, social welfare projects, underground streets, sports stadiums and halls, the 2009 Deaflympics Stadium, the exhibition building for the Taipei International Flora Exposition, The Social Housing of the Universiade Athletes' Village in Linkuo, markets, Taipei Art Center, and Taipei Music Center, etc., the New Constructin Office has gained the recognition of the government officials and is the guarantee of construction quality.

From 1991 to 2019, NCO is currently acting as agent for various projects including Da Long, Nan Men, Cheng Kung and Wan Da No. 1 fruit, vegetable and fish wholesale markets; 20 school projects for the Education Bureau, Taipei Art Center and Taipei Music Center for Cultural Bureau, completion of the Social Welfare Bureau, Wan Long East Camp, East District Social Welfare Garden Building, police and fire station office buildings, second funeral building for the Funeral Service, residential project for Beitou-Shilin Technology Park, 3 public housing projects, and demolition of the Tao Heung Market for the Health Bureau. At present, the accumulated agency budget has reached over $51.6 billion, which shows that the life and vitality of the building has blossomed under the impressive achievement of the New Construction Office.