The nation's administrative map is expected to see a drastic change following the Ministry of Interior's announcement late last night that its 25-member review committee had reached a preliminary consensus to unanimously approve the upgrade of Taipei County to a municipal city and the mergers of Taichung City and County as well as Kaohsiung City and County.
However, the committee unanimously turned down proposals by Taoyuan County and Changhua County to be upgraded to municipal cities and merger applications by Yunlin County and Chiayi, Minister of the Interior Liao Liou-yi (廖了以) told a press conference at 11:15pm.
Liao added that the committee was divided on the merger proposal by Tainan City and County, and that the case would therefore be forwarded to the Executive Yuan for decision.
Liao made the announcement after a 15-hour review session held by the committee, which is composed of 10 government officials, including Liao and representatives from various agencies such as the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Transportation and Communication, as well as academics in various disciplines.
The amendment to the Local Government Act (地方制度法) passed by the legislature in April allows for the merger of cities and counties or their upgrade into municipal cities. The recommendations reached by the ministry’s review committee last night will be sent to the Executive Yuan for final approval.
Executive Yuan Spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) said earlier yesterday that the Cabinet would make a final decision next Thursday at the earliest. The seven applicants from 11 counties and cities were allotted 20 minutes each to make their case followed by a 40-minute question-and-answer session.
Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) argued that national development would be “off-balance” if Taichung City and County were excluded from the upgrade, because it would be missing the central part of the nation.
Taipei County Commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) refused to comment on media speculation that his application for the county’s upgrade was to ensure he retained his seat for an additional year, thereby blocking former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) from running on behalf of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the year-end local elections.
Chou said that Taipei County's application for an upgrade was the wish of its 3.85 million residents and the county had fulfilled all the criteria to become a municipal city.
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), who was the fifth applicant to face the review board, said the city and Kaohsiung County have collaborated on many issues and the region was fully prepared for the merger.
Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsiung (楊秋興) said his county had been waiting for 20 years to be incorporated with Kaohsiung City.
Su Jun-pin said earlier yesterday that the Executive Yuan would approve the results of the committee review if the conclusions drawn for each application had the consensus of all 25 committee members.
If there was no unanimous conclusion, the Executive Yuan would appoint a minister without portfolio to conduct another review before a final decision is made, Su said.
Although the Executive Yuan is required by the Act to make a decision within six months of the review committee's decision, Su said it would complete the review in the shortest possible time to allow sufficient time for preparations ahead of the year-end local elections.
Documents needed to be sent to the Executive Yuan included the conclusions of the review committee and its record of the review, and the proposals brought by the 11 applicants.
Within 30 days of a decision being made, the ministry has to announce a date for the merger or upgrade to take effect, which is expected to be on Dec. 20 next year.
Su dismissed DPP allegations that the review process was a formality and that the government already has a shortlist of approvals that would favor the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in the year-end polls.
“The Executive Yuan will examine each case in a fair, impartial and open manner,” Su said.
The results of the review will have a great impact on local politics.
If a merger plan or an upgrade plan is approved by the Executive Yuan, the term of office of a mayor or a county commissioner, city or county councilors and village and township mayors would be extended to coincide with the term of office of the mayor of a municipal city.
In addition, the government needs to redraw constituency borders in a merged or upgraded municipal city to meet the regulations governing the term of office and number of city councilors, which are different from those in a county or a city.
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