President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) told local residents yesterday that they should decide how their town should be rebuilt, local reports said.
As the furor over who should take the lead -- the central or local governments -- in rebuilding disaster areas was growing, Lee shifted the focus elsewhere.
Visiting Puli township (埔里鎮) in Nantou County yesterday, Lee told township chief, Chang Hung-ming (張鴻銘), "now you're in charge, you're the man up top, it'll be a lot of work," the United Evening News quoted Lee as saying.
On Friday, Lee said township leaders should take the reigns.
Lee also urged the holding of township meetings to determine the wishes of local residents.
Nantou County Commissioner and Peng Bai-hsien (彭百顯), an independent, has suggested the entire layout of Puli be redesigned.
Puli township was severely damaged by the earthquake that struck Taiwan on Sept. 21. More than 7,500 houses in the township were damaged beyond repair in the quake that has now claimed over 2,000 lives and left more than 100,000 homeless.
While being briefed by military officials involved in relief and resconstruction efforts, President Lee expressed his concern over the sluggish demolition of damaged structures.
Lee said the government should loosen its definition of collapsed housing. Damaged housing that residents are unwilling to live in should be considered destroyed, Lee said, making them eligible for further government relief.
The government's current policy is that owners of collapsed houses will be compensated with NT$200,000, and NT$100,000 for partially collapsed structures.
President Lee also proposed that the government involve local residents in reconstruction efforts by issuing wages to them.
The administrative emergency decree issued by President Lee has freed up NT$160 billion in government funds for reconstruction, stated Paul Chiu (邱正雄), Minister of Finance, yesterday morning.
Chiu said that the Ministry of Finance was considering expanding the scope of the NT$500 billion National Stabilization Fund (國家安定基金) -- previously used to support the stock market -- thereby allowing the government to raise more private capital for reconstruction.
In a turnaround from previous announcements, Chiu also said that the ministry would consider issuing lottery tickets to raise reconstruction funds, the China Times Express reported. Chiu however ruled out a possible increase in business taxes.
The Executive Yuan said yesterday that it would relax government assistance policies for households in the disaster areas so residents receive income supplements from the Central Government.
Previously, only individuals or households registered in stricken areas were eligible for government funds if their housing was damaged. The newly issued statement will render residents not legally registered in the areas eligible. Residents need only obtain proof of residency from their neighborhood chief.
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