The Ministry of the Interior has scheduled a meeting for June 23 to evaluate applications from cities and counties for mergers and upgrades to special municipalities next year.
The Executive Yuan is expected to approve or reject all applications by Aug. 4, Minister of the Interior Liao Liou-yi (廖了以) said.
PROPOSALS
At the June 23 meeting, the cities and counties that have applied for changes in status will be invited to give 20-minute presentations on their proposals, Liao said.
The recently amended Local Government Act (地方制度法) required that counties or cities seeking a status upgrade or a merger submit their applications to the ministry by the end of last month.
Taipei County and Taoyuan County have applied for an upgrade to special municipalities, while Taichung County and Taichung City as well as Kaohsiung County and Kaohsiung City have applied to merge into special municipalities.
The MOI has also received applications from Changhua County, Tainan City and Tainan County and the counties of Yunlin and Chiayi.
The applications will be submitted to the Executive Yuan at the end of this month after the MOI completes its review, Liao said.
PESSIMISTIC
At a meeting with Tainan Mayor Hsu Tain-tsair (許添財) on Wednesday, Tainan County Commissioner Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智) said the city and county’s joint application was considered least likely to succeed because it did not fit with President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) vision of three major metropolises and 15 counties.
Su called on the government to reconsider its redistricting plans and to take historical and cultural factors into account, adding that Tainan, as Taiwan’s historical cultural capital, has a unique cultural heritage.
Su also said that political conflict could arise if the government failed to approve the merger between Tainan City and Tainan County but endorsed Taipei County’s application for an upgrade to a special municipality.
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