3rd municipality still open: minister

Interior Minister Yu Cheng-hsien (余政憲) said yesterday that no priority list exists regarding which city or county will join the ranks of Taipei and Kaohsiung by becoming the nation's third special municipality.

Reporting to the Legislature's Committee of Interior Affairs, Yu said that the ministry has made a thorough review of the jurisdiction of various levels of government and how resources are distributed.

The Cabinet has submitted a draft revision of the Financial Allocation Law (財政收支劃分法) to the legislature and the draft revision of the Local Government System Law (地方制度法) will soon be ready, he added.

Yu pointed out that the existing Local Government System Law does not specify the qualifications for a provincial city or county to be elevated to the status of a special municipality, except that it must have a minimum population of 1.25 million.

While the status issue involves a re-distribution of resources, Yu said that the Ministry of the Interior needs to work out supplementary measures regarding manpower arrangement, finance allocation and jurisdiction. It cannot be handled as a singular case in terms of the status elevation of a particular city, he added.

Referring to the comments made by some legislators that Taipei County Magistrate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) might have blocked the way for Taichung City to become the third special municipality, Yu said that the government's policy-making process will not be affected by a particular person.

According to the legislators, provincial cities and counties -- Taichung City and Taipei County in particular -- are vying for special municipality status, since President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had promised the residents in Taichung City as well as Taipei County during the presidential campaign that he would help them realize this vision.

In mid-September, Premier Yu Shyi-kun said that with the approval of the Taichung City Council and the Taichung County Council, Taichung City might be incorporated with Taichung County to qualify as a candidate for special municipality status. Taichung has a population of barely 1 million.

Over the past few weeks, the Taichung City Council adopted a resolution to push for the status elevation program, while the Taichung County Council also adopted a resolution to promote the incorporation with Taichung City so that, together, they could attain special municipality status.

Seeing that the Taichung City Government's efforts to canvass for special municipality status have made headway, Su gave a press conference last week, claiming that Taipei County is better qualified to become the third special municipality.

He also threatened to quit his post if the county is left behind any other provincial city or county in terms of status.

Yu called on the legislators to accelerate the screening and legislation of the revised laws on local government systems and financial allocation, because the legal framework is the basis for the authorities to make an assessment.