News

    On May 7, accompanied by Li Zheng-Wei, director of Nantou County Government’s Construction Department and Li Liang-Zhu, director of Finance Department, County Magistrate Lin Ming-Chen inspected Caotun Botanical Garden and were informed of the development project of the Caotun Handicraft Smart Park. County Magistrate Lin indicated that the aforementioned project has been approved by the Industrial Development Bureau, MOEA, which will invest NT$700 million for the project to be completed by yearend of 2020. The project will combine the industry, the academia and the government for the smart park development to increase employment and will also build labor or youth housings to energize local development.

    County Magistrate Lin stated that the 20 hectares county-owned land behind the Caotun Township Swimming Pool would be transformed into an industry park with Nan Kai University of Technology and Handicraft Research Center nearby. Plus convenient transportation and favorable development conditions, this project will be beneficial in all aspects, such as boosting the County Government income, youth employment, and economic development.

    County Magistrate Lin said that the County Government is currently developing four small-scale industry parks in four major townships, including Nantou Wanglai Industry Park, Puli Micro Park, Zhushan Bamboo Art Industry Park and Caotun Handicraft Smart Park, plus the Fuxing Farm Development Plan, which will increase employment, boost population growth and effectively galvanize Nantou’s future macroeconomic development.

    Li, director of the Construction Department, pointed out in the briefing that the County Government submitted to the Ministry of Economic Affairs the development proposal in accordance with the Statute for Industrial Innovation. The proposal was officially approved this March, and the Central Government will offer a subsidy of NT$527 million, plus the County Government’s self-raised NT$226 million. The overall land under development is approximately 20 hectares, of which the land for industrial use takes up 12.23 hectares. Within the industry park, space is planned and designated for such public facilities as a sports park, a landscape detention basin, a service center and a waste water treatment plant, in addition to the industrial use.

    The Industry Park is adjacent to the National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute, where future projects will be developed towards an international craft & science cluster encompassing craft creation, craft design & production, art education promotion. Food processing industry will also be encouraged to fuse with the cultural creativity industry for upstream-and-downstream collaboration. One-stop manufacturers and peripheral service businesses can also invest and station in the Park. It is estimated that about 80 enterprises will be inducted in future, expected to create 1,000 plus jobs, generate an annual production value of NT$3.54 billion and energize commerce and tourism in Caotun.