Mayor’s remarks
1. Talents who stay in Tainan can realize their dreams
(1) At the third orientation and consensus camp of the “2017 Contact TAIWAN” co-organized by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) and the Industrial Promotion and Investment Promotion Committee of Tainan City last week, in addition to proactively promoting Tainan, I let participants know that there is a well-established high-tech cluster in Tainan. As well as being a low-carbon city, Tainan is a green energy science city designated by the central government. As the housing rent is much lower than that in many northern Taiwan cities, Tainan is a livable city for you to realize your dream of a happy life.
(2) A talent can change the future of a company, a city, or even a country. Those talents are sought after all across the globe. In Taiwan, it is Chairman Morris Chang, also referred to as the “Silicon Godfather”, of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC) who was the first to establish the foundry model that reinvented the operations of the whole semiconductor industry and has even changed the output value of the industries and high-tech industries in Taiwan.
(3) Take TSMC’s Tainan projects for example. In addition to the 3nm foundry investment project, construction of the 5nm foundry project has been initiated. Along with the 16nm foundry, 70% of TSMC’s global capacity are located in Tainan. That is to say, Tainan will become a global foundry center which in turn will attract various peripheral industries and talents to Tainan.
(4) There are three more reasons for talents to stay in Tainan. First, a high-tech cluster has been well-established in Tainan with many leading manufacturers, suggesting that many important future investment projects will be stationed in Tainan. Second, Tainan is a designated base for green energy technology under the 5+2 Industrial Transformation Plan promoted by the Executive Yuan, and many research and development teams will establish presences in Tainan. Third, Tainan is a cultural capital, a gourmet food capital, and a livable city. Therefore, we hope that more talents can come to Tainan to realize their dreams.
2. “Sinying-Yanshui: Twin Star” wins NT$ 375 million central government funding
(1) The “Sinying-Yanshui: Twin Star Construction Project” has become part of the “Heart of the City Construction Project” under the central government’s Forward-Looking Infrastructure Development Program. As one of the 22 demo projects of developmental potential in Taiwan with five major action plans and 13 sub-projects, “Twin Star” executed by the Bureau of Urban Development, Public Works Bureau, Cultural Affairs Bureau, and Water Resources Bureau will receive central government funding amounting to NT$ 375 million in the next four years. “Twin Star” aims to develop the two core districts north of the Zengwen River to correspond to Tainan City’s Anping District in the south, hoping to balance urban-rural development. I am grateful to Deputy Mayor Wu and Secretary-general Wu for their supervision, Director-general Chuang of the Bureau of Urban Development, Director-general Yeh of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, Director-general Su of the Public Works Bureau, Director General Peng of the Water Resources Bureau, and related employees for their efforts. In the future, I hope that all of you can implement the project as quickly as possible. The Research, Development and Evaluation Commission will be requested to enhance the control and evaluation of the progress of all projects.
(2) The Forward-Looking Infrastructure Development Program is the key policy of the central government aiming to construct the infrastructure for national development over the next three decades. It is also a great opportunity for “city transformation and Tainan ascendance”. Constrained by a lack of funding and relying on our own funding, we were unable to promote major construction projects in the past. With central government funding under the Forward-Looking Program coming forward, I urge our city’s bureaus and departments to grasp this opportunity to transform and regenerate the major infrastructure in Tainan, in order to turn the city into a more investable city.
(3) In response to the passage of budget of the Forward-Looking Program, our bureaus and departments should review the development content of each project with respect to the eight major development plans under the Program: railway infrastructure, water environment construction, green energy infrastructure, digital infrastructure, urban-rural infrastructure, child care facilities to reverse declining birth rate trends, infrastructure to ensure food safety, and human resources infrastructure to nurture talent and boost employment, in order to select infrastructures that are most beneficial to Tainan City and report the most competitive projects to related ministries and commissions of the central government to strive for funding. In addition, the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission should play their control and evaluation role and implement rolling reviews to make timely content adjustments. I also hope that all directors will personally supervise the progress and write project plans to ensure all approved projects are completed as scheduled and with the designated quality. The Research, Development and Evaluation Commission will be requested to arrange for me to host all of Tainan’s project status meetings.
Reports
1. Report on the Outcomes and Prospects of Greening Tainan presented by the Public Works Bureau (please refer to written sources for details)
Resolution: Approved for reference filing
Mayor's remarks:
(1) I’m grateful for the efforts of Deputy Mayor Wu, Director General Su of the Public Works Bureau, and related bureaus and departments and their employees for realizing this green space and park policy, which is highly valued by our citizens and which has turned Tainan into a beautiful garden city. A total of 71 parks with an entire area of 83.57 hectares have been built since the county-city merger. In addition, we have completed building and upgrading parks over one hectare in areas in Jiali, Sigang, Lioujia, Sinshih, Liouying, and Shanshang districts to achieve the goal of one one-hectare park in each of the 37 administrative districts in the city. In addition, the Phase II expansion of the Barclay Memorial Park, the construction of the Pingshih Barrack Park, and the refurbishment of the Tainan City Park under the “Centenary Regeneration Plan” have also recently been completed. The aim of all these projects is to provide citizens with a great place for leisure and recreation and to realize carbon reduction by way of these “city lungs”.
(2) A total of 2.73 million shrubs have been planted so far. By the end of 2018, 3.08 million plants will be planted to make up to 410 hectares of green space and reduce 5.5 million tons of carbon emissions each year. There are some other forthcoming major projects, such as the Yuejin Port Park Construction Project, Golden Coast Periphery Landscape Reengineering Project, and the consolidation projects of Changsheng Barracks, Matou Industrial Park, Yanhang Junior High School, and ROCA Artillery School Image Park are in progress to continuously increase parks and green spaces in the city, reducing our carbon emissions and greening the city at the same time.
(3) In future, the Public Works Bureau and all bureaus and departments should continue to build more avenues and parks with characteristic flowering arbors for the goal of “one street one scene” with individual landscapes, in order to turn Tainan into a truly livable garden city for a green life.
(4) The secretary-general should discuss the opening date of Pingshih Barracks Park with the Public Works Bureau, Water Resources Bureau, and Bureau of Transportation. In relation to the green roof project for the public sector implemented by the Environmental Protection Bureau, Deputy Secretary-general Lee and the Environmental Protection Bureau should assess the need to establish similar self-governance regulations to include buildings in the private sector and take reference from Kaohsiung when doing so. Deputy Mayor Chang should discuss with related bureaus and departments the need to build parking facilities for new parks. The secretary-general should discuss the establishment of a patrol mechanism and a cityscape reporting mechanism for greening maintenance and management with the Public Works Bureau, Water Resources Bureau, Bureau of Land Administration, Bureau of Urban Development, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Tourism Bureau, and Bureau of Education.
2. Report on the Outcomes and Prospects of Historical Block Revitalization presented by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (please refer to written sources for details)
Resolution: Approved for reference filing
Mayor's remarks:
(1) Starting from when the Dutch build Fort Zeelandia and Fort Provintia to when it was built as the capital of the Kingdom of Tungning, and afterwards through Qing Dynasty rule and Japanese rule to today, Tainan has been Taiwan’s political and economic center for nearly four centuries. In addition to retaining the memories and traces of Tainan’s development, these historical lanes and streets are elements forming Tainan as the ancient capital of Taiwan. Therefore, how to preserve and revitalize these historical blocks is an urgent issue in turning Tainan into a cultural capital.
(2) In 2012, the Tainan City Government was the first in Taiwan to promulgate the “Tainan City Historical Block Revitalization Self-Governance Ordinance” to set a legal basis for revitalizing historical blocks in the city. Then, the city government established the “Tainan City Historical Block Revitalization Committee” and established the “Tainan City Historical Block Revitalization Subsidization Regulations” to optimize the regeneration and revitalization of historical blocks. For this reason, the subsidization of historical block revitalization in Tainan has been able to grow in width and depth.
(3) During the five years between 2013 and 2017, the city government accepted a total of 185 applications for historical building subsidization and approved 137 applications, providing a total amount of subsidies of about NT$ 23 million. Furthermore, apart from stimulating private contributions amounting to at least NT$ 140 million to refurbish or reconstruct those historical buildings, the policy has attracted many young people to engage in historical building preservation and revitalization with modern creativity and design expertise, in order to energize the development of Tainan’s cultural and creative industries. The government has also invested NT$90 million to reengineer at least 12 blocks (including façade refurbishment of historical buildings). In addition, the “Yanshui District Historical Block Project” and the “Tainan Historical Block Project” were announced in 2015 and 2017 respectively. These fruitful outcomes have highlighted one thing: in addition to the Old City area, the effect of the historical block revitalization policy has spread to all parts of Tainan. I appreciate the devotion and diligence of Director-general Yeh and the colleagues of the Cultural Affairs Bureau.
(4) With the rise of hotel construction, how to preserve the integrity of historical buildings and blocks has become an important issue. As government strength is limited, I hope that the secretary-general, the Cultural Affairs Bureau, and the Bureau of Urban Development will draw up regulations to incentivize public engagement in historical building refurbishment.