Mayor Inspects Taipei’s First Super Levee
Accompanied by the deputy secretary-general of city hall, staff from the Public Works Department, and Hydraulic Engineering Office (HEO), Mayor Ko Wen-je inspected the super levee located at the Beitou-Shilin Technology Corridor on February 5.
The facility is part of the “Zhoumei Levee and Greening Effort of the Vicinity” construction project which is carried out along with other development plans at the Beitou-Shilin Technology Corridor.
The design of the Zhoumei Levee is inspired by the Japanese concept of “super levees.” The structure is an example of a new generation of scenic levees which is quickly becoming a mainstream for such structure and actively promoted by Taipei City Government.
The height of the levee has been increased from the standard 6 meters to 9.65 meters, which complies with the higher standard meeting the requirement of 200-year-period flood protection embankments. The levee takes up a stretch reaching 1.5 kilometers. Unlike past levees consisting of rigid concrete sections, the new approach incorporates elements such as flood prevention functionality, landscaping, and impacts on the local ecosystem.
According to the HEO, the new levee construction concept has the advantage of multipurpose utilization of the levee itself and high floodplain. Furthermore, this approach also works well with the overall urban planning by expanding the view along the entire riverbank and making waterside leisure activities more accessible to citizens.