Hsinchu Mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅) has proposed combining Hsinchu city and county to create a “Greater Hsinchu” special municipality, and on Monday said he would not seek election as its mayor. As a former Chiayi mayor, I understand his reason for doing so.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said in her inaugural address in 2016: “Industrial planning strategy and national land use should not be fragmented or shortsighted. We must also pursue balanced regional development, which requires planning and coordination by the central administration, and it requires our local governments to uphold the spirit of regional joint governance.”
Tsai understands that Taiwan is in need of national spatial planning, remapping of administrative zones and amending the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法).
Unfortunately, nothing has been done about these issues for years.
The two cities that have suffered the most in the current system are Hsinchu and Chiayi, so it should not come as a surprise that the two are sister cities.
They were designated as provincial cities in 1945, downgraded to county-administered cities in 1951 and elevated again to provincial cities in 1982.
These changes were due largely to politics and finance. Although it seems an advantage to become a provincial city, it comes with a catch. Once upgraded, the connection between city and the surrounding county is cut. Each having its own administration, communication and collaboration between local governments is not easy, even worse if the governments are run by opposing parties.
Issues needing cooperation to be resolved are shelved, undermining the development of the city and county, as well as residents’ welfare.
The square in front of Chiayi Railway Station is an example. The land on which a bus terminal was built belongs to Chiayi City, while the terminal belongs to Chiayi County. The county pays rent to the Chiayi City Government. When Chiayi City planned in 2013 to streamline the bus system by relocating the terminal, the two administrations went to court over the matter.
While I was in office, after showing then-Chiayi county commissioner Helen Chang (張花冠) my sincerity, we were able to solve this issue together, and the square was refurbished in 2017.
The most troublesome are the “not-in-my-back-yard” (NIMBY) utilities, such as incinerators and mortuary services. When Chiayi City was upgraded to a provincial city, those facilities were pushed to the outskirts, near Chiayi County’s most prosperous areas. For better amenities, residents of densely populated towns and villages dotting the border have to put up with the facilities.
I have been promoting collaboration, if not a merger, between the city and county administrations, but as the NIMBY example shows, collaboration can be a Herculean task.
Lin is pushing for the Hsinchu merger because the city and county are facing the same problems.
Just as when I in 2017 endorsed a merger of Chiayi City, Chiayi County and Yunlin County, both of us have residents’ best interests in mind, not our own self-interest or re-election prospects.
I can relate to Lin’s decision. In this way, he might silence those who say that he proposed the merger to further his own political interests, and puts the details of the plan, such as spatial planning, in the spotlight.
His approach might serve to catalyze the merger proposal in the legislature, so that Hsinchu residents might enjoy the benefits of a metropolitan region as soon as possible.
Twu Shiing-jer is a former Chiayi mayor, former Democratic Progressive Party legislator and former national policy adviser.
Translated by Rita Wang
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