Mayor’s remarks
1. Provincial Highway 61 (Cigu-Shihfeng) starts service
(1) The Cigu-Shihfeng section of Provincial Highway 61, commonly known as the West Coast Expressway, started service last Saturday. To witness this historical moment, Premier Lai specifically returned to Tainan to preside on the opening ceremony. We are indebted to the central government for its assistance in advancing the completion of this important project one year earlier through the efforts of the Directorate General of Highways, Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC). As an important infrastructure marking the progress of a city, the completion of this section saves a lot of time for Cigu citizens and road users traveling between northern and southern Taiwan and thereby accelerates local development.
(2) A well-established and convenient transportation network is vital to a city’s progress. Through the full cooperation between the city government and the central government over the past few years, the completion of Tainan’s grid of three traffic arteries on a north-south axis and three on an east-west axis is drawing nearer and the vision to reduce the one-hour living circle to the half-hour living circle will become a reality in the foreseeable future. The city government will keep closer cooperation with MOTC to advance the initiation of the Zengwen Eco-Vista Bridge project linking the Cigu and Taijiang areas to realize Premier Lai’s expectations: link northern and southern Taiwan, unite in strength and synergy, and promote economic development.
2. Revitalizing Yuguang Island through transportation and environmental improvement
(1) To restore the pleasant natural ecology and living environment of the Yugang Island, the city government has spent two years on setting up the local environment together with the concerted efforts of all bureaus and departments, local communities, Taiwan International Ports Corporation, Forestry Bureau and Coast Guard Administration. Regardless of the rain, the Yuguang Island Art Festival opened last weekend and attracted a large crowd. This suggests that citizens care more about the quality of holiday leisure and a positive reinforcement for the city government to organize low-carbon outdoor art and cultural activities.
(2) Although it is the first time to hold the Yuguang Island Art Festival, the 14 works exhibited by nine artist teams were as good as the art festivals held in neighboring country Japan, and the number of visitors exceeded 20,000 within just two days after event opening. To improve leisure quality, I urge the Cultural Affairs Bureau, Bureau of Transportation, the Tainan City Police Department, and district offices to keep close cooperation, encourage citizens to take public transport and shuttle bus to the event venue and implement access control on vehicles entering the island at peak hours, in order to maintain a low-carbon, sustainable, and eco-friendly environment.
(3) Cioumaoyuan used to be a hot sightseeing spot for Tainan and Taiwan citizens. As the heavy traffic and crowds of the art festival have overloaded the island’s traffic capacity, we need a solution to resolve this problem. In recent years, people have been making suggestions to build related facilities on this little island, and even develop the island into an international resort. All such suggestions have advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, how to maintain environmental sustainability and economic development will be an important issue for us to resolve.
(4) The end of 2017 is drawing near. Many colleagues have been busy working and could not spare the time to take their annual leave. Therefore, I recommend those colleagues to take a half-day off and visit Yuguang Island. Apart from relaxing your body and mind, you can consider the directions suitable for local development. I would like to thank the Environmental Protection Bureau, related bureaus and departments, and district offices for their efforts to maintain coastal cleanup regularly. Special thanks should be given to the social groups, NGOs and enterprises that offer continuous support for coastal cleanup. I am also indebted to the Fire Bureau for arranging a workforce to protect the safety of the citizens; the Bureau of Urban Development for planning the wooden path on Yuguang Island; the Water Resources Bureau for the assistance for disposing of waste on the beach; and the Bureau of Education for tidying up the environment of the Tainan Sailing Association (TSA). In the future, I hope to strive for funds from the Sports Administration to turn the TSA into a legal and safe training base. These are the directions for the future development of Yuguang Island. Thank you for the assistance of all bureaus and departments.
Report
1. Report on the “Action Plan for Residential and Commercial Electricity Conservation in Tainan City” presented by the Bureau of Economic Development. (please refer to written sources for details)
Resolution: Approved for reference filing
Mayor's remarks:
(1) In response to climate change as well as Taiwan’s structural change in electricity supply and the risk of electricity shortage at peak hours, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) will implement a three-year new electricity conservation campaign in 2018. Under the campaign, full-scale electricity conservation will be implemented through four main constructs: leadership by the government, support by industries, total participation and building energy conservation. In addition, by teaming up with local governments, MOEA hopes to maximize the energy for electricity conservation governance, create an electricity conservation atmosphere across the country and progressively balance the supply and demand for electricity.
(2) The Action Plan for Total Participation in Residential and Commercial Electricity Conservation is different from the one-year smart electricity conservation plan in the past. In the next three years, the plan will be promoted on a long-term basis to optimize local energy consumption analysis, the division of labor for electricity conservation management, electricity conservation planning; accelerate the replacement of energy-consuming equipment; implement locale-specific and uninterrupted electricity conservation; and enhance overall energy efficiency.
(3) I would like to thank the Bureau of Economic Development for completing the action plan for this policy and in setting the explicit target “one per cent less than 2016 in 2020” within such a short time. Based on the action plan, 30 work plans including equipment replacement and energy management will be implemented to encourage the active participation of five main sectors: residential and commercial, government agencies, service industries, schools and the agricultural sector to develop the energy conservation habit in all citizens.
(4) The voluntary action of people and the synergy of cross-sectoral cooperation are key to success in electricity conservation. For all citizens to take action for this end, bureaus and departments should play their part based on the division of labor and aggressively promote various electricity conservation tasks by combining them with the low-carbon and energy development diversification measures, such as the Shalun Green Energy Science City, in order to turn energy conservation into part of Tainan’s culture.
(5) Deputy Secretary-General Fang and the Department of Budget, Accounting, and Statistics should assist bureaus and departments that have been approved for air-conditioner replacement in the 2018 budget on inventorying the air-conditioners. Bureaus and departments whose air-conditioner replacement is not yet approved should make the inventory by themselves. Bureaus and departments meeting the plan’s requirements should report to the Bureau of Economic Development by November 20. The Bureau of Economic Development should study the legitimacy and the type of tendering for streetlamp and air-conditioner replacement with private investments and the sharing of the saved electricity bills between the government and the public, in order to save on financial expenditures.
2. Report on the “Dengue Fever and Flu Prevention in Tainan City” presented by the Public Health Bureau. (please refer to written sources for details)
Resolution: Approved for reference filing
Mayor's remarks:
(1) For dengue fever prevention, by November 13, the 16 confirmed cases found in this city are all imported cases, including five from Vietnam, three from Malaysia, three from India, two from the Philippines, two from Indonesia, and one from Thailand. Under the influence of the northeastern seasonal winds, the temperature drops significantly in the morning and the evening, while the daytime temperature is still over 23°C. Such a condition favors mosquito breeding. In addition, because it rained last week, if stagnant water remains uncleaned, mosquito larvae will eclose this week. Citizens should not overlook this and should stay alert to the four steps in eliminating mosquito breeding: inspect, discard, clean and brush.
(2) In terms of flu, seasonal flu is rampant at the changing of the seasons. As the vaccination rate of government flu vaccines is low in all groups, related bureaus and departments should continue to publicize the advantage of immunization, particularly among adults aged 50-64 and minors under 18. To the group aged 50-64, the immunization intention is low as most people in this group think that they are physically strong. However, the Taiwan CDC epidemic surveillance found that this group of people is the second high-risk group for flu complications. Therefore, awareness education should be enhanced. As many middle-aged people are the social and family support, by controlling this risk, they can avoid regrets and contribute to society positively.