News

  William Lai Ching-te, the Premier of the Republic of China led his administrative team to travel to Nantou County Government to sponsor a “Public Forum on the Forward-Looking Infrastructure Development Program and long-term care affairs.” County Magistrate Lin Ming-chen and the Hung Jui-chih, the Secretary-General of the county government led the heads of various departments to attend the meeting. They expected to decrease the amount of the matching funds provided by the regional government and the percentage of the matching fund in the Forward-Looking Infrastructure Development Program to minimize the financial pressure on the regional government.

  In his speech, County Magistrate Lin affirmed the policy of the Forward-Looking Infrastructure Development Program implemented by the central government. It is much helpful in promoting the economic growth of the local economy. The county government will collaborate and support this policy with full capacity. However, due to insufficient financial resources in Nantou, with a limited budget, County Magistrate Lin suggests the central government should lower the percentage of the matching funds for Level 4 and Level 5 counties and city governments. By adjusting the manner of distributing the funds, it will help soothe the financial pressure of regional governments.

  In the Forward-Looking Infrastructure Development Program, Nantou County focuses on the improvement of water infrastructure, urban-rural infrastructure, digital construction and infrastructure for childcare. To achieve these goals, it proposed a NT$ 3.5 billion project. At present, a NT$ 1 billion project was approved. As to the funds to the projects that have not been approved, County Magistrate Lin also hoped to obtain the support of the central government that will approve the remaining projects.

  In his speech, Premier Lai expressed the idea that the government will consolidate President Tsai Ing-wen’s major policies of the Forward-Looking Infrastructure Development Program and Long-Term Care 2.0 Plan. Regarding the problems and difficulties encountered by Nantou County, he will be responsible for studying them further and will give help and support in his full capacity.

  In the meeting, both sides exchange opinions and interacted vividly. The heads of townships, towns, and cities and county government official attended the meeting and proposed 27 suggestions in total. The ministers and directors of various ministries and departments in the Executive Yuan replied to them respectively. Among them, the county government proposed an increase of in air-pollution subsidy, integrating a plan for long-term care, the hand-over of the Baquashan Irrigation and Pumping Construction Project to the central government, full-scale subsidies to the highway buses in remote areas and the inclusion of indigenous people’s farmlands into the administration and maintenance scheme of the Department of Irrigation and Engineering and more. Regarding the suggestions proposed by the county government, Premier Lai expressed that he will forward them to the concerned ministries and departments to study them further to identify possible solutions.