The Executive Yuan set a goal of reducing the number of third-level local governments from 368 to between 100 and 150 yesterday, one week after approving the upgrade of Taipei County, the merger of Kaohsiung County and the municipality of Kaohsiung City, the merger of Taichung City and Taichung County, and the merger of Tainan City with Tainan County.
Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) told Minister Without Portfolio Tsai Hsun-hsiung (蔡勳雄) during yesterday’s Cabinet meeting to coordinate the necessary changes to rules and regulations for the restructuring program.
Local governments should fully cooperate with the Executive Yuan to make sure the mergers and status changes will be completed by Dec. 25 next year, Minister of the Interior Liao Liou-yi (廖了以) said after the meeting.
At that point, Taipei City and Kaohsiung City and the other 23 counties and cities will be remapped into five municipalities and 17 counties and cities. The five municipalities will be: Taipei City, New Taipei City (now Taipei County), Taichung City/County, Tainan County/City and Kaohsiung County/City.
The administrative borders of townships and villages in the revamped areas will have to be redrawn because of differing regulations. The biggest difference is that districts chiefs in a municipality are appointed by the city mayor, while heads of counties and cities in counties and cities are elected by popular vote.
The central government, however, has not yet decided whether to apply the current regulations to the new municipalities.
Liao said that remapping the borders of townships and villages is a necessity in view of the significant population gaps in different townships and villages.
“Some townships or villages might have 10,000 residents, while Banciao has 550,000 residents. If the maximum population is set between 200,000 and 300,000, we can reduce the total number of [the third-level governments] to between 100 and 150,” Liao said.
Population would not be the only determining factor, he said.
The government will also promote cooperation between the existing localities by grouping them into seven blocs: Taipei, Keelung and Ilan; Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli; Taichung, Changhua and Nantou; Yunlin, Chiayi and Tainan; Kaohsiung and Pingtung, Hualien and Taitung; and Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
RSS