Mayor’s Remarks:
1. Southern Taiwan’s first outlet park is scheduled to open in 2022
(1) Japan’s Mitsui Fudosan Co. has decided to enter southern Taiwan after investing in outlet parks in New Taipei City’s Linkou District and Taichung City. It is scheduled to build Mitsui Outlet Park Tainan, its third outlet park, in the Tainan High Speed Rail Station District. The site has an area of 5.86 hectares, and the project is divided into two developmental phases. The first phase calls for 160 stores and the opening is planned for 2022. The second phase will see the number of stores increase to 220 by 2025, thereby making the facility the largest outlet park in the Tainan metropolitan area. The new park is expected to create 2,000 employment opportunities for Tainan.
(2) It can be said that Mitsui Fudosan’s choice of Tainan for its first outlet park in southern Taiwan is the result of joint public and private efforts and an example of creating prosperity together. Around three years ago, Ichiro Shimomachi, Chairperson of Mitsui Fudosan Taiwan, visited Tainan to inspect the investment environment. The joint efforts and assistance of the Tainan City Government, Bureau of High Speed Rail, and Mitsui Fudosan led to the choice of Tainan HSR Station as the site. The Tainan HSR Station District is the planned location of the Smart Green Energy Science City, Tainan Convention and Exhibition Center, and the Academia Sinica Southern Branch, and already the site where Taiwan High Speed Rail and Taiwan Railways Administration converge. Moreover, the blue line of Tainan’s Mass Rapid Transit system will be extended here in the future, connecting all three rail systems, linking technology, and spurring industry, all of which are worth looking forward to.
(3) Akihiko Funaoka, Executive Managing Director of Mitsui Fudosan Co. mentioned that Tainan is capable of attracting over 30 million domestic and foreign tourists a year due to its many historic buildings, cultural products, and local cuisine. Moreover, eight million passengers pass through HSR Tainan Station every year. This outlet park is located to the east of Tainan HSR Station. It is not only easily accessible, but will also become a new green energy shopping mall, in line with the characteristics of the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City and Tainan Convention and Exhibition Center. There are also educational institutions in the surrounding area. Once completed, the area surrounding HSR Tainan Station will integrate the resources of industry, government, and academia in one place, which in turn will create employment opportunities and upgrade economic value. An international-level Japanese company has decided to build an outlet in Tainan. This is a powerful endorsement of the future growth of the Tainan Shalun HSR District and a great incentive for Tainan’s economic development, tourism, and quality shopping environment.
2. The third reading of the 2019 Tainan City total annual budget was completed on October 4
(1) The eighth session of the second regular plenary meeting of the Tainan City Council started on July 27, 2018. On October 4, the council completed the third reading of the Tainan City Government’s 2019 Tainan City total annual budget and the budgets of affiliated units. I would like to sincerely thank all the councilors, led by Speaker Lai and Deputy Speaker Kuo, as well as all the department and bureau heads and teams, for their hard work and communication efforts during this time. For the follow-up, I would like to ask all departments and bureaus to make good use of their budgets in accordance with their plans to expedite and complete construction projects and further reinforce Tainan as a happy and livable city.
(2) Next year’s total annual budget revenues and expenditures were originally set at NT $86,318,744,000. Annual revenues and annual expenditures were then cut back by NT $60 million and NT $106,000, respectively. Following the reductions, annual revenues became NT $86,258,744,000 and annual expenditures became NT $86,318,638,000. The Tainan City Government has been authorized to make its own adjustments with regards to the deleted items.
(3) There are still 50 advance funding cases with a total value exceeding NT $4.8 billion that have not yet passed the third reading. They include central government subsidies of over NT $2.5 billion and city matching grants of over NT $2.3 billion. Among the 50 pending cases are 20 Forward-Looking Infrastructure Development Program cases with a total value of over NT $2.226 billion. Of that amount, NT $1.727 billion are central government subsidies, and NT $499 million are municipal-borne funds. I am very disappointed that these advance funding cases have not been passed, and I will follow-up by consulting with the City Council and Speaker Lai to jointly find a solution and allow local construction to proceed smoothly.
3. The 16th International Symposium on Novel and Sustainable Technology opened with the enthusiastic participation of Southeast Asian countries
(1) The 16th International Symposium on Novel and Sustainable Technology opened last Thursday at Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology. Esteemed and outstanding university scholars from Vietnam, Japan, India, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand, Austria, and other countries attended the two-day symposium. Over 260 academic papers on the latest research and development achievements were published. The symposium is an important annual international academic event in southern Taiwan that has been held for 16 years. The objectives are to understand the world’s pulse and new technological developments, as well as connect with the world, thereby helping the development of domestic industries, government, and academia.
(2) The Tainan City Government actively promotes the objectives of creating new technology cities and smart cities. The Central Government has selected the Tainan HSR District as the location of the Smart Green Energy Science City, and many large-scale construction projects are currently in full swing. In the future, all green energy-related research and development in Taiwan will be carried out at the science city. In addition, semiconductor companies including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and United Microelectronics Corporation have successively announced major investment projects in Tainan. TSMC has already broken ground on a 5-nanometer factory and will begin construction on a 3-nanometer factory in two years’ time. The investment amount is estimated at NT $1.1 trillion, and 10,000 employment opportunities will be created. Once the two factories are completed, over 60% of TSMC’s global output value will originate from Tainan. In addition, Mitsui Fudosan Co. has decided to build Mitsui Outlet Park Tainan in the Tainan HSR Station District. This shows that Tainan is not only an ancient cultural capital, gourmet city, and business city, but also a new science and technology city.
(3) It is also worth mentioning that in addition to international scholars, many international students also participated in this symposium, including 11 students from Japan's Kumamoto University who delivered oral and poster presentations. Students and teachers from Japan’s University of Tokushima, and the Philippines’ Lyceum of the Philippines University and De La Salle University also took part in this symposium. We not only successfully expanded academic and industrial exchanges to Southeast Asian countries but also made a contribution to our country’s New Southbound Policy.
Announcements
1. The Public Health Bureau’s report on its achievements over the past eight years (refer to written sources for details)
Decision: Approved for reference filing
Mayor’s Remarks:
(1) The Public Health Bureau’s missions are to protect and promote the health of city residents and provide holistic care that encompasses the whole person, whole time, whole distance, and whole family. It is hoped that this will give residents excellent health and medical care, and we will achieve our vision of becoming a benchmark for Taiwan’s smart healthcare by 2025. The achievements during the past several years are very impressive, and I want to thank Commissioner Chen and his entire team for their hard work.
(2) The Public Health Bureau provides screenings for five types of cancer; high blood sugar, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol; as well as dementia and depression testing, through its mobile hospitals and health exams service. It has served over 200,000 people during the past eight years, and the satisfaction rate in years past has consistently exceeded 90%. It has also greatly improved the situation in remote areas that lack medical treatment resources. With regards to the free denture-fitting plan for senior citizens over the age of 65, 60,000 cases have been successfully completed as of August 2018, and the satisfaction rate has reached 90%, while the usage rate has exceeded 85%. The quality of life of Tainan’s senior citizens has significantly improved as a result.
(3) In terms of Dengue fever prevention and control, the Public Health Bureau established the Tainan City Dengue Fever Prevention and Control Center to formulate epidemic prevention strategies based on science and coordinate vector breeding site clearance work, thereby effectively preventing and controlling epidemics. The city presently has 14 imported cases and one indigenous case, showing that relevant disease prevention work has been thoroughly implemented and clear results can already be seen. In addition, there have been outstanding results that are worthy of recognition in mental and oral health promotion; drug prevention; health care quality improvement; food and drug safety implementation; and the strengthening of the disease prevention system.
(4) Following the merger of county and city, the average life expectancy of residents rose from 78.26 years in 2010 to 79.73 years in 2017, or an increase of 1.47 years. This represents progress in medical treatment technology and increased awareness of health issues among residents, and is also the result of the joint effort by the Public Health Bureau and other entities. The Tainan City Government has participated in the Taiwan Healthy City Awards and won 109 domestic awards and six international awards between 2011 and 2017, the most in the nation. These achievements are remarkable and show that Tainan City’s promotion of its health policies has been recognized. I hope all our colleagues can continue working hard so that residents can be even healthier and more energetic in the future.
(5) I would like to ask the Public Health Bureau to reflect on how to carry out cross-regional cooperation with other cities and counties in related work. The city’s medical tourism industry still has room for improvement. I would like to ask the Public Health Bureau to continue its efforts, and the Laboratory Division to strengthen its future cross-bureau testing work. The Public Health Bureau should also further strengthen its food safety controls.