Mayor’s remarks:
I. All units shall get prepared for floods to cope with the strongest plum rain front of this year.
1. The strongest plum rain front of this year and the southwesterly flow will bring extremely heavy rain or torrential rain to lowland and highland Tainan in the next few days. Bureaus, departments, and district offices should stay alert and get prepared to prevent flooding.
2. The Water Resources Bureau and Fire Bureau should activate their pre-deployment and flood control surveillance; check if any drainage channels and rainwater sewers are clogged and if water gates, pumping stations and mobile pumps work properly; and release water from detention basins and ponds to a lower level to free up volume for rainwater overflow. In addition, the Public Works Bureau, Environmental Protection Bureau, and district offices should check all gutters, clear leaves, foreign matter, and screens from drainage inlets to facilitate drainage in torrential rain.
3. As various flood control and bridge renovation projects are in progress, engineering units should make exact preparations for flood response to prevent blocking water flow or flood control vulnerabilities so as to ensure exact flood control and public safety.
4. Flood control/prevention is one of the city government’s four fundamental projects. There is a national standard for flood control engineering. The current 10-year protection standard is no flood when one-day (24 hours) precipitation is below 250 mm. However, many extreme one-day precipitation events have exceeded this standard due to climate change. Therefore, the city government urges citizens to prepare themselves for disaster prevention and pay close attention to the real-time flood conditions, including precipitation and water levels, announced by the city government in order to prepare flood control gates or go to areas of higher levels as early as possible to reduce property losses.
5. Southern Taiwan will be a seriously affected region when a southwesterly current hits Taiwan in combination with the plum rain front this Friday and Saturday. Bureaus and departments must get prepared for floods and citizens are urged to pay attention to city government announcements.
II. Building correct disease prevention concepts to eliminate rabies
1. On May 18 in Guanling Borough, Baihe District, a small-toothed ferret-badger broke into a private company and bit a civilian. Unfortunately, the dead small-toothed ferret-badger was found positive for rabies in the autopsy. So far, it was the third reported case in Tainan, with cases in the Nanhua, Guanmiao, and Baihe districts.
2. Bureaus and departments should warn citizens living in rural and mountainous areas to stay alert but not to panic and remember the “two don’ts and one do” principle: do not touch or capture wildlife and do not abandon pets; do immunize pet dogs, pet cats, and pet terrestrial carnivores with rabies vaccine to avoid risk of infection. Do not abandon pets and do immunize pet cats and dogs regularly. Citizens living in areas with frequent small-toothed ferret-badger appearances can apply for adoption of sniffer dogs to the Animal Health Inspection and Protection Office to prevent attacks by small-toothed ferret-badgers.
3. The number of reported rabies cases escalates for the first time this year since the outbreak in 2013. Prevention is always better than cure and one stitch saves nine. The Agriculture Bureau and Animal Health Inspection and Protection Office should reinforce the capture, accommodation, and immunization of stray dogs and cats to prevent rabies from spreading to endanger public health. The Agriculture Bureau, Bureau of Civil Affairs, and district offices should reinforce the awareness education of disease control in order to eliminate the possibility of spread at the source. The Agriculture Bureau and Animal Health Inspection and Protection Office should urge the public to immunize their pet dogs and pet cats every year and capture stray dogs and cats in areas where small-toothed ferret-badgers are sighted for immunization to prevent rabies from spreading.
Reports
I. Report on “Firefighting Achievements and Outlook” by the Fire Bureau (refer to written sources for details)
Resolution: Approved for reference filing.
Mayor’s comments:
1. To maintain public safety and to ensure the safety of civilian life and property are the prime missions of firefighting work. After the merger of Tainan County and Tainan City into the current municipality, all firefighting officers and volunteer firefighting officers have carried out their duties faithfully and proactively promoted the all-out firefighting concept in order to continuously safeguard the life and property of citizens by integrating civilian power and provide high-quality and efficient services by encouraging public participation. The Fire Bureau has also made an outstanding performance in various evaluation events organized by the central government. Well done! The achievements are formidable and not easy. Thanks for the effort and devotion of Director-general Lee and all members of the bureau.
2. We look back at the collapse of the Weiguan Building in Yongkang District during the earthquake on February 6 last year. The Fire Bureau adopted the command and control of incident operations (CCIO) model and teamed up with rescue teams from different parts of Taiwan to successfully rescue all trapped victims. Based on this achievement, the Fire Bureau has further improved the mechanism for addressing rescue missions by expanding the establishment of the special search and rescue team and training more rescue dogs. This March, Tainan’s CCIO passed ISO9001 certification to become the only certified rescue command model in Taiwan. This deserves commendation.
3. With the Fire Bureau’s effort to promote fire prevention, the number of fire cases between 2013 and 2016 tended to drop every year. However, with the increase in medical emergency missions every year, in order to reduce DOA rates and increase the success of rescue, apart from promoting CPR to all citizens, the Fire Bureau should reinforce the 119 on-line instruction mechanism to provide correct information on first-aid procedures for people on-site to give appropriate treatment, in order to strive for more chances to save lives.
4. As a result of extreme weather and environmental change in recent years, disasters bring different levels of damage to Tainan every time. Therefore, firefighting officers should get familiar with and be prepared for rescue missions in different types of disasters so as to stay calm and make timely responses in unexpected situations. The flood season of this year has set in, the Fire Bureau and all related units must stay alert to get prepared for any rescue missions attentively. In particularly, all firefighting officers should “plan more for incidents and act cautiously in response” when dealing with flood-prone areas in order to protect the lives and property of Tainan citizens.
II. Report on “Investments in Infrastructure in Areas North of Zengwen River: Balancing Development of Greater Tainan” by the Research, Development and Evaluation Committee (refer to written sources for details)
Resolution: Approved for reference filing.
Mayor’s comments:
1. “Regional balance” has always been a core target of our administration. Over the past six years or so, the city government has invested up to NT$75.272 billion in the development of the area north of Zengwen River and even plans to allocate NT$20.1 billion as part of the national Forward-Looking Infrastructure Project for the area. This project will include the development of an industrial park, the Taiwan Orchid Biotechnology Park, the revitalization of the peripheries of the northern center of Tainan City, the Yuejin National Historical Landscape Park, and other water resources projects. By developing all parts of Tainan as a whole, the city government will continue to balance rural and urban developments in order to promote overall regional prosperity and development.
2. In recent years, apart from the opening of the entire Expressway 84, the building of the Liuying Interchange, and the opening of Expressway 61 as well as many ground access beltways, we have been promoting the rapid transit public transport system to improve the east-west transport network for an one-hour living circle and to shorten regional distances in Greater Tainan for urban-rural co-prosperity. After years of our incessant efforts, the central government has finally approved the Zengwhen River Bridge project of Expressway 61. The Public Works Bureau should monitor the building progress of the bridge. In addition, the Sinying Integrated Transit Center will run under the Operate-Transfer model after government construction, and the Bureau of Transportation should implement the project aggressively to ensure smooth completion.
3. After promotion to a municipality, we have identified the causes of floods in different districts and proposed countermeasures. So far, we have invested about NT$10.244 billion in the flood control of flood-prone areas in the area north of Zengwen River, hoping that citizens can get rid of floods as early as possible. We have also spared no effort to improve the sewage system. The Water Resources Bureau has completed sewage system connections for 6,160 households in Liuying, East Sinying, and Guantian districts and the construction of water purification sites along Dajiatui and Lizho drainage. Besides progressively resolving flood-related problems, the overall planning of drainage remediation and water environment empowerment will be the major infrastructure projects aggressively promoted by the city government. I have faith that Tainan will become a livable waterfront city of no floods but clean water.
4. The city government has planned various projects to vie for funding from the Forward-Looking Infrastructure Project. In industrial park development, after ten years of hard work, the Ministry of the Interior finally approved the development of the Cigu Technology Industrial Park earlier this year. It is believed that the park will resolve the land shortage for industrial development in the industrial axle area on the west coast to balance the development of the coastal area and bring in nearly 10,000 job opportunities to the Greater Tainan area. The Taiwan Orchid Plantation is the most important cluster for Taiwan’s orchid industry. Apart from holding an orchid show every year, the Agriculture Bureau should plan for high-tech agriculture development, cultivate talents in agricultural biotechnology, commercialize various orchid species, and develop industrial tourism in Lianlian along County Highway 172, so as to demonstrate the effectiveness of industrial clusters and thereby promote city tourism. The revitalization of northern Tainan begins with Sinying District. The Yuejin National Historical Landscape Park will be the bellwether of cultural development in the area north of Zengwen River. Prior work for the reengineering of relevant infrastructure, park landscape engineering, and old city blocks should be in place. Related bureaus and departments should keep track on the submission schedule of the central government. After the passage of the Special Budget Act, you should submit all proposals as quickly as possible to strive for funds. RDEC should make good controls to ensure these projects critical to city development are completed with the required quality and as scheduled.